This Christmas fruit cake is so moist and flavorful, perfectly spiced and studded with a variety of nuts and fruits that were soaked in rum. This is the perfect recipe to make a big fruit cake that you can share with your friends and family!
This post is part 2 of a 2 part series for making my delicious and juicy Christmas Rum & Fruit Cake. Click here for part 1 where I show you how to soak the fruits for this cake! It's not yet too late to soak your fruits, so run and get started 🙂
Flavors in this Christmas fruit cake!
I started making Christmas fruit cake about 7 years ago and I've made so many changes to this recipe since then. I love how this recipe has evolved and become better with every change.
The 4 main flavors in this fruit cake are:
- Your choice of dried fruits and nuts. I love using raisins, cranberries, dates and candied ginger. You can use any combination of dried fruit you like here.
- Soaking liquid. The fruits are rehydrated by the soaking liquid and it becomes a major flavor in the cake. I like to use spiced rum but you can also use other alcohols or fruit juice. I've provided more details on my post here.
- Spices. Spices add such a warm flavor that goes so well with the fruits and nuts in this cake. I like using cinnamon, cardamom, ginger and freshly grated nutmeg in my cake.
- Citrus zest and juice. I like using fresh orange and lemon zest along with orange juice and applesauce/grated apples in my recipe. These ingredients add a lovely citrus flavor to the cake that goes really well with the warm spices.
How to make this recipe vegan/eggless
To make a vegan version of this fruit cake:
- Replace the eggs with ‘flax-eggs’. To make 1 flax egg, mix 1 tablespoon ground flax meal with 2 tablespoons of water and let it sit for about 15 minutes to gel up. For this recipe, you will need 4 ‘flax-eggs’.
- Replace the butter with any flavorless vegetable oil of your choice. My favorite option to use is cold-pressed avocado oil.
Tools for baking this cake
This recipe makes enough to fit in one tall 9″ cake pan or 2 smaller 6 or 7 inch cake pans. You could also bake this cake in 2 9" loaf pans or make smaller cakes in muffin pans or mini bundt cake pans. Baking times will depend on the size of the cake pan and your oven (as oven temperatures can vary).
This fruit cake batter is very thick and dense and is baked at a lower heat for a longer period of time. This means it has a tendency to burn in the bottom and around the sides, especially if you are making a larger cake like me. I like to line the bottom and sides of my pan with parchment paper to help prevent burning.
I used my stand mixer to make this cake but you absolutely don’t need it for this recipe You could also use a handheld mixer or just a silicone spatula and whisk and make the cake by hand!
Storage instructions
This cake can be consumed the day after it has been made. I like to make it about a week before serving to allow flavors to mature.
If you would like to make it in advance, it can be stored for up to a month if you brush it every week with the remaining alcohol from fruit soaking.
If you used fresh fruit juice instead of alcohol to soak your fruits , the cake must be consumed within a week after baking.
More recipes to try this holiday season!
If you haven't soaked your fruits already, it's not too late! Here's how you do it:
Christmas rum & fruit cake (part 2)
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
- 0.5 cup almond flour (can be replaced with all-purpose flour)
- 1 tablespoon cocoa powder (unsweetened)
- ¼ teaspoon salt (skip if using salted butter)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Wet ingredients:
- 1 cup butter (softened at room temperature)
- 1 cup dark brown sugar (pack the cup with the sugar while measuring)
- 4 large eggs (see notes for egg replacement)
- 1 tablespoon orange zest (from 1 large organic orange)
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest (from 1 large organic lemon)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup applesauce (or grated apple)
- ½ cup orange juice (freshly squeezed)
Fruits & Nuts
- 1 batch rum soaked fruits
- ¾ cup walnuts
- ½ cup cashews
- ¼ cup pistachios (or any combination of nuts of your choice)
Instructions
- Drain all the soaked fruit in a large colander/sieve with a bowl underneath for about 10-15 minutes. Save the drained soaking liquid for later.
- Grease a 9" springform pan with tall sides well with some butter. Then cover all sides and bottom with parchment paper. Then grease the parchment paper with more butter. Don’t skip on the parchment paper because the cake takes a long time to bake and might burn on the outside if not properly covered.
- Mix together all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
- Transfer all the drained fruit into another bowl and sprinkle ¼ cup of the dry ingredients over the fruit. Toss everything together and make sure all the fruit is coated well in the flour mix.
- Preheat your oven to 150C/300F for 10 minutes.
- In a separate large bowl beat together the soft butter and sugar either using an electric mixer or handheld whisk, for about 2-3 minutes or until the mixture looks pale and fluffy.
- Add in the eggs one at a time, whisking between each addition. Don’t worry if the mixture looks like it is curdling at this stage.
- When all the eggs have been mixed well, add in the orange and lemon zest, vanilla extract, the applesauce (or grated apples) and orange juice and mix everything well together.
- Now add in the dry ingredients in 2 additions and mix just until no dry clumps of flour are visible. Be careful not to overmix the batter.
- Finally add in flour coated fruit mix and all the nuts into the batter and fold everything well together using a large spatula just until everything looks mixed together. The batter will be quite thick.
- Transfer the cake batter it into the prepared baking pan and level the top using your spatula.
- Bake for approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes. The baking time may vary depending on the type/size of your oven and the size of your baking pan(s). I kept an eye on the cake after 1 hour and 30 minutes and check it every 10 mins thereafter. When a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, the cake is done.
- Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool in the pan placed on a wire rack for about an hour. After an hour, remove the cake from the pan, peel away the parchment paper and place it back on the rack to cool completely.
- Brush the cake all over with the reserved soaking liquid. Wrap the cake tightly with some parchment paper and aluminum foil. Store it until ready to serve. See notes below for storage instructions.
Serving
- When you are ready to serve the cake, decorate it however you like. Some options include brushing the cake all over with a fruit jelly for a lovely shine or dusting it with cocoa powder/icing sugar like I have done here. Cut the cake into slices using a sharp knife and serve.
Video
Notes
- Replace the eggs with ‘flax-eggs’. To make 1 flax egg, mix 1 tablespoon ground flax meal with 2 tablespoons of water and let it sit for about 15 minutes to gel up. For this recipe, you will need 4 ‘flax-eggs’.
- Replace the butter with any flavorless vegetable oil of your choice. My favorite option to use is cold-pressed avocado oil.
Estimated Nutrition
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I am going to try this for the first time. Thank you for the recipe. I have a couple of questions.
1. Can I make this in mini loaf pans?
2. Can I skip the almond flour? If so, should I add another 1/2 c of all purpose flour?
Thank you.
Hi Sunny,
1) Yes you absolutely can make this in mini loaf pans. I would bake it at a slightly high temp (325F/160C). Time will depend on the size of the pan, keep an eye on it when it starts turning brown on the top.
2)Yes, just replace it with all purpose flour.
Let me know how it turns out!
Hi!
If using 9 inch loaf pans, does the temp/ baking time remain same?
The temp will remain the same. Assuming that you will be baking in 2 loaf pans, the time to bake will be lesser. I would check every 5-10 minutes after 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Loved the taste of this cake, truly reminded me of the cakes I used to eat in India. Its super moist! Thank you Viola!!
Hi, Thank you for sharing the recipe. I am going to make it this week. Can I replace all purpose flour with whole wheat flour?
Hi Shruti, I wouldn't recommend replacing the all purpose flour as this cake is already pretty dense and the whole wheat flour might make it dry and even more dense.
Let me know how it turns out!
Hi Viola - Is the cocoa powder used in the batter or is it just for the topping?
The cocoa powder is used in the batter.
Can we keep it out or refrigerate it?
If you used alcohol to soak the cake + brushed more on it, you don't need to refrigerate it. The alcohol will preserve the cake!
If you used fruit juice instead, the cake will stay fine at room temperature for a week. Beyond a week, you will need to refrigerate it.
I just made this cake, followed it word by word and i made x3 the recipe. I used 4 loaf pans 8"x4", 9"springform round pan and 1 muffin pan.. Your recipe was so detailed that it was just like a simple math problem to make this cake and it came out so good in all the forms. There was compliment galore when we broke into it. Awesome recipe and I look forward to more. Happy Holidays!!
Wow! this makes me so happy to read, I'm elated that you made my recipe and everyone loved it! Happy Holidays to you too 💖
Amazing recipe! I reduced the recipe into half to make cupcakes/muffin. They turned out so great, half recipe made approximately 18 muffins. The raisins are the key highlight of this recipe. As recommended by Viola, I baked them on 325F for approximately 1 hour. Definitely recommend! Ps. I used orange juice to soak the dried fruits for 3days, stored it in the fridge and rehydrated them everyday.
Yay that so exciting! I'm glad to hear that the orange juice version turned out great as well 🥰 Thanks for trying my recipe 💗
I am jumping happy ! This was the very first bake of my life and I think I nailed it !!! I followed both part 1 & 2 thoroughly and proceeded with the biggest cake tin. Initially I was skeptical as am currently w/o an oven but my convection microwave did not let me down ! I am thrilled with the outcome and so so proud of myself ! The raisins pop with spurts of rum and it’s the best feeling ever !!! It’s now neatly tucked just like you suggested (thanks to the alcohol)
Thank you so so much for this detailed recipe Viola ! Bragging rights earned & how <3
Oh yayy! I'm so happy that your cake turned out well and tastes great ❤ Glad to know that a convection oven works well too. Thanks for sharing!
At which step do we add the orange juice?
Ahh, thanks for catching that. I included the step in the video but not in the blog post. I've updated it now.
You add it in Step 8 along with the applesauce/grated apples.
Thanks!! The cake is in the oven now, am so nervous! Send me your baking vibes <3
That's awesome, it is going to turn out amazing 🤩🤗 Can't wait to see your pictures💗
Love this recipe! Started soaking the fruits a while ago and made the cake last week and let it rest for a week. Brushed it a few times with the leftover soaking rum. I am a convert. This cake is amazing. Not at all like the yucky ones from stores. It’s wonderful, very moist and dense and just the right hit of spices and citrus. Nothing fake or weird. My husband said it was the best ever! Thanks Viola!!
Yay! I'm so glad you and your husband loved it 💗 Thank you for trying my recipe! Merry Christmas 🤗
I made this cake on Christmas Day. Followed the recipe exactly with no substitutions. It came out beautifully. I had soaked my fruits in Spiced rum for 9 days. The cake got done in 1 hr and 30 min and I used the 9” springform pan. It’s a big enough cake to actually share with others and I gave pieces to quite a few people.
Thank you for the recipe. This one is a keeper.
I'm really happy to hear that your cake turned out really well and you were able to share some of it. ❤ Happy holidays and thank you for trying my recipe!
For the first time I baked a Christmas cake and this recipe of yours made me feel so confident and left me highly satisfied ☺️
Tiny bits of lemon zest and Orange zest and the idea of adding applesauce probably made this cake unique. I have been enjoying it since a week. Right now ‘m in a situation where I want to eat it everyday, also a part of me says ‘slow down, it will get over in a couple of days if U eat like this 😜
I thought this cake rises while baking. So I filled the batter 3/4th and ended up having a flat cake. Next time I’ll be more careful about it.
Also, ‘m already waiting for next Christmas(cake) 🥰🎉
Thank you so much for writing this recipe ❤️
Your comment made me so happy, Renisha 🤗 I'm so elated that you loved my recipe and will keep coming back to it ❤️ Thank you for sharing.
Part 1 and part 2 recipe was easy to follow thru and cake was very moist and delicious. This was my first time making Christmas cake and it turned out excellent. Thank you!
I'm so happy to know that your cake turned out amazing ❤️
This is the one of the best cake I’ve ever had. Great recipe, very detailed, turned out perfectly!!!
I'm so glad you loved the cake, thank you for trying my recipe!
Thank you very much viola for the detailed step by step recipe which made my job really easy as I am baking this traditional christmas cake for the first time.Its super delicious and everyone enjoyed the yummy cake 😋.I used the non alcoholic version and made with apple and orange juice.Cant wait to try other recipes😃.keep sharing❤ and love all the way from Minnesota😍.
Thank you so much Radhi! I am so happy that you all enjoyed my recipe 🤗
Tried the recipe and enjoyed tremendous results. Worked like a charm:) Thanks for sharing your recipe!!
I'm so happy you enjoyed my recipe! ❤
Thanking you a lot for this reciepe which was a sucess within my family! And made me start this year 2021 in a very tasteful way 🙂
That is so good to hear! I am so happy you and your family loved my recipe. Happy New Year ❤
Hi! Your recipe looks good and I'm going to make one soon but I can't find dark brown sugar in my area, so I'd to ask if I can replace dark brown sugar with Molasses and what will the measurement be?
Thank you!!
Thanks! I haven't personally used molasses but here's an approximate conversion:
Use 1 cup (200g) white granulated sugar and 2 teaspoons (14g) molasses instead of the 1 cup dark brown sugar.
I'd love to hear how it turns out when you make it!