Candied Fruit Fruitcake

This candied fruit fruitcake is known as tutti frutti cake. Packed with lots of candied fruit peel and mixed nuts. Baked in a bundt pan with cream cheese and buttermilk batter for a moist and tender crumb. Perfect edible gift for the holidays too.

Table of Content

• Why make this fruitcake
• Ingredients and substitutes
• Step by step instructions
• More fruitcake recipes
• Frequently asked questions
• Troubleshooting
• You may also like
• Printable Recipe
• Comments

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Have you ever heard of tutti frutti cake? Perhaps not. It actually candied fruit peels that are called tutti frutti

I love this cake very much but you have to love candied fruit peels to appreciate this cake. The fruit peels have a slightly bitter taste to them which when candied tend to mellow down but still have a unique taste to them. The cake is not bitter in any way but candied fruit peel does not taste like regular dried fruits.

Personally, I think you either love it or hate it. I know friends who will eat candied fruit peel for a snack and then there are those that don't even like the smell. My husband won't touch it. I love it. 

Why make this fruitcake

• Unlike traditional recipes, this fruitcake is simple and easy to make. The batter takes just 10 minutes to prepare and about an hour to bake. 
• Also, once this is cake is done, you can cut into it and enjoy it right away.
• it is made with cream cheese and buttermilk so, you do not need to let it mature for weeks, nor do you need to do any feeding.
• In fact, the shelf-life for this cake is just about a week. But, it can be frozen for up to 3 months.
• This is not one of those fruitcake recipes you make with or without alcohol.

Ingredients and substitutes

• All-purpose flour - Just plain old all-purpose flour works just as well. If self-raising flour is all you have, use it but reduce the baking powder and baking soda by half.
• Butter - You do need butter in this recipe to hold the fruit together, oil won't give you that firm texture.
• Cream cheese - gives the cake that soft moist texture as well as a soft tender crumb on the outside.
• Eggs - always use large eggs when baking. A large egg should be around 50 to 60 grams in weight.
• Glace fruits - I'm using fruit peels that's what we call glace fruits or sometimes also known as tutti frutti. These are the candied fruit peels that are chopped finely.
• Mixed nuts - today I am using a mixture of cashews, almonds, and pecans but any nuts would work just as well.

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Step by step instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350°F / 177°C/ Gas Mark 4
• Grease and dust with flour an (8-inch) or 6-cup bundt pan.Alternatively, you can also use an 8 x 2-inch round pan or 9 x 2-inch loaf pan.
• Dry ingredients - In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices- set aside.
• Candied fruit - Add 2 tablespoon flour to the chopped candied fruit - set aside
• In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment cream the butter, cream cheese, and sugar until light and fluffy.
  Pro tip - make sure the cream cheese is at room temperature so it creams well and not get lumpy
• Add the vanilla extract followed by the eggs one at a time.
  Pro tip - adding room-temperature eggs one at a time will prevent the batter from curdling.
• Add the flour and buttermilk in three additions. Then add the candied fruit and the chopped nuts. Combine well.
  Pro tip - do not overmix at this point. The flour coating the fruit works as the glue holding on to the batter. Overmixing will cause the flour to blend into the batter and therefore sink to the bottom.
• Pour into the prepared baking pan. Bake in the preheated oven on the middle rack for 60 to 70 minutes until a skewer inserted in the center comes clean
• Cool in the pan for 10 minutes then invert onto a cooling rack and cool completely.
• Dust with powdered sugar (optional). Enjoy!

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Frequently asked questions

Troubleshooting

• Why does my fruit cake not rise? A fruit cake is a dense batter loaded with fruit, so it won't rise like a regular sponge cake. However, it is not a flat dense cake, so there has to be some rise because we do have leavening and eggs in the batter. Make sure to check that the baking powder date is not expired.
• Why is my fruitcake crumbly? Measure the ingredients properly, so there a good balance of fruit to the cake batter. Too much fruit means there is not enough batter to hold it all together. Alternatively, too much sugar in a cake batter will cause the cake to crumble when you cut it. Too little sugar can make the cake dense and tough.
• My fruit cake is too dry? Often, over-baking a fruit cake is the cause of dry fruit cakes. A fruit cake must be baked at the right temperature. The too-high oven temperature will dry the cake. Follow the recipe closely, including baking times.

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Printable Recipe