Baking a fruitcake is a little different than regular cakes. In this post, Fruitcake 101, you will find tips for baking the perfect fruit cake, for storing your fruitcake weather you make yours with alcohol or fruit juice.
I know Christmas is coming so everyone has almost started with the Fruitcake preparations. To those of us that have been doing fruitcakes for years; it's just a regular cake. For those that are just starting out; it's quite unnerving when people tell you - Fruitcake is different? How is it different? Why is it different? and What do I need to do differently?
How is fruit cake different?
- Well, it has so much more than just four egg and butter? The real difference is the addition of all those gorgeous fruits.
- Most often we eat our cakes baked fresh, but not a fruitcake. Usually, a fruitcake is well preserved, fed with alcohol over weeks before the special day.
- If you do not follow the right process for storing fruit cake you could end up with a moldy fruit cake which is not very pleasant
- Most cakes are decorated with buttercream, ganache fondant and such but a traditional fruit cake is brushed with orange marmalade, then wrapped in Marzipan and then covered in Royal Icing or sometimes Fondant.
My mom baked cakes a lot. In fact, she took orders for cakes but never decorated them. I remember the once July sets in she'd soak her fruits, once October sets in she'd start making her preparations and arrangements to make sure she has a nice cozy cool corner for the fruitcakes to rest. That's what she'd call 'the season'. She was very good at baking so she'd get book way in advance. I credit all my baking skills to her.
Fruitcake 101 (pin)
I have given you a few fruitcake recipes so this post is not about one recipe. And you can use it with almost all fruitcakes that call for dry fruit and nuts. Especially the ones you make during the Christmas season.
My recipes are scattered between my three blogs, this one here as well as my contribution to Cake Decorating Tutorials and East Indian Recipe. I will leave the links below.
Here, I have compiled a few tips that I think are really important to know when baking fruitcakes. I do hope you find them useful.
Tips for baking a perfect fruitcake (pin)
- Always soak the fruit, at least overnight if not for longer t it will soften and make the cake moist. Soaking the fruits means that the fruit will not absorb any more moisture from the cake batter and will cook in its own juices. This results in a very flavorful moist cake.
- Dust the fruit in flour before you add to the batter so they will not sink to the bottom of the pan. If the fruit is wet, drain excess liquid and dust with flour just before adding to the batter. The fruit on its own, when added to the batter, tends to sink to the bottom of the cake. When you dust the fruit with flour - this flour helps to hold onto the cake batter keeping it in place.
- You can add the liquid in which the fruit was soaked to the batter separately. (unless you want to limit the quantity of alcohol or unless stated otherwise in the recipe)
- Fill the pan only ⅔ full, not more. Fruitcakes do not rise when baking because they do not have too many leavening agents or lots of eggs. But a ⅔ full pan is always good for even baking in cakes.
- Fruitcakes cook long and slow. Which is why linning the baking pans on all sides is very important. This will prevent the outside from overcooking while the center is still cooking.
- When it comes to fruitcakes, I prefer to line the pan as well as use cake strips. This always gives me a moist cake. It does take longer to bake with the slow cooking.
- Ensure oven temperature is low so the batter will cook evenly without drying out the fruit.
- Often add some water to the baking tray around the pan or a small bowl of water in the oven can help keep the cake moist.
MIXED SPICES AND FLAVORS
One of my pet peeve about Christmas baking or should I say fall recipes is that people add too much of spices. So much that everything tastes like cinnamon, pumpkin spice or gingerbread spice. I think adding spices is great if you can keep the proportion to a minimum. The spices are there to enhance flavors not to overpower the other flavors. So, next time you follow a recipe with spices? perhaps check to see if you want them all or reduce the quantity a bit.
- Mixed spice is generally made with cinnamon, ground ginger, ground cloves, allspice, and ground nutmeg sometimes even caraway seeds, cardamom, and cayenne.
- If you cannot get mixed spice? add ⅛ tsp each of ground cinnamon, ground ginger, ground clove and or ground allspice.
- Don’t like spices in your cake? – add ⅛ tsp Cinnamon, 1 tsp vanilla or ½ tsp almond extract - you can add all three or just simple plain vanilla extract.
- If you are going to use orange marmalade to brush the fruitcake later you could add ½ tsp of orange extract to enhance the flavors when baking too.
This was our Tip Thursday collection for this week.
you can find them all on this blog and Pin them on Pinterest here to
Tips for storing fruitcakes (pin)
In general – you can store Fruitcake at room temperature for one month, refrigerator for six months, or store in the freezer for up to a year!!!
To ensure you have a nice moist fruitcake
- Take a muslin/cheesecloth soaked in rum, brandy or fruit juice Wrap the cake well with this liquor/fruit soaked cheesecloth.
- Cover the wrapped cake in aluminum foil.
- Do not let the aluminum touch the cake directly. The acid in the liquor will corrode the foil and affect the flavor of the cake.
- Place the cake in an airtight plastic box.
- Keep away from direct sunlight.
- The liquor/juice soaked muslin/cheesecloth can be refreshed every month to ensure a moist fruit cake (optional)
- Place an apple in the box with the fruitcake to help keep moisture. (optional)
- Extended Length storage – to store for more than a year. Cover the alcohol-soaked fruit cake in powdered sugar, then in plastic and then in an airtight container.
Again this was our Tip Thursday last week
you can find them all on this blog and Pin them on Pinterest here to
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 the baking powder 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 to crumble when you cut. 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.
Frequently asked questions
While fresh fruit keeps the cake moist, dry fruits can take moisture from the cake. Soaking the fruits ensure they are already moist so the cake stays moist and flavorful for longer. You don't have to soak the fruits for months, weeks, days or hours. Even an hour or two is a good start.
Store a fruit cake in a cool dry place away from sunlight wrapped well in parchment or greaseproof paper and foil. Then place in an airtight container.
Later to store a fruit cake for longer than one year. Cover the alcohol-soaked fruitcake in powdered sugar, then in plastic and then in the airtight container.
Personally, I love to use brandy, dark rum or Cognac. But, sherry, whiskey, orange-flavored liqueur such as Cointreau work too.
By adding more moisture to the cake. Soak a cheesecloth with alcohol, fruit juice or syrup. Wrap the cake in the soaked cheesecloth and place it in the refrigerator.
Well, this depends on how boozy you want the fruit cake. You don't want the cake too soggy but you don't want a dry or stale cake either. For a rich mature fruit cake feed it once every week for 12 weeks.
Fruitcake Recipes
The BEST Rich Fruitcake Recipe
Boozy Christmas Fruitcake Recipe
Dark Fruitcake Recipe
Moist Eggless Fruitcake Recipe
Traditional Christmas Pudding Recipe
Pistachio Cherry Fruitcake
Semolina Cake with Cranberry and Almonds
Moist Cranberry Almond Cake
Candied Fruit Fruitcake
Halva Fruit Cake Bars aka Halva Squares
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Lucy-Sarah Raymond Gounder
Hi Veena, I made mini cakes and I'd like to store my wrapped and sealed baked fruit cake in the fridge, so that I can sell them at a flea market in December.
How long before the event can I remove the cake from the fridge and package for sale? I'm not decorating it. I'm going to let it stand on a cake board and plastic wrap with a ribbon. I would really appreciate your advice as to when I can remove it from the fridge and if I need any additional packaging tips. Thank you
Veena Azmanov
You only need 24 hours to thaw them in the fridge. Make sure to wrap well. If necessary add some simple syrup or alcohol when they thaw to keep them moist.
Joy
Hi. I treated my fruit cakes for 3 months. I then covered them with marzipan. The marzipan became runny and was melting from inside. What could be the problem. Can it be solved
Veena Azmanov
Sounds like there was too much moisture in the cake. Depends on much you fed it. If there is too much alcohol or liquid in the cake it will melt the frosting (marzipan or fondant)
Carly Wew
Veena!! You are the magic hands in my kitchen. Every recipe I try is a winner.
I haven't cooked in years and my kids are raving about my cooking. I can't believe it.
Thank you, thank you, thank you so much. Suddenly I am LOVING Cooking.
Last week, I made the ground beef with potatoes, the pizza and no-knead bread
This week I made burger buns and your kebab burgers (So good BTW)
On Friday, I sent this fruitcake for mom - she could not believe I made it.
Yesterday, I made your puff pastry this week. NEVER ever in a million years would I have thought I could do that!!
LOVE you lady.
Veena Azmanov
Aww, Carly, you just stole my heart. Thank you so much for such lovely feedback. I am so happy to hear you are enjoying my recipes.
I can feel the joy, excitement, and feeling of accomplishment in your message.
Thank you so much.
Sheila
Hi
I have a friend that absolutely loves fruit cake. His mother had sent him one every year for years until she passed. Then his wife has bought him one for the past several years. It was always something he looked forward to at Christmas. But this past year he had to go on dyalisis because of losing his kidneys to cancer. So, he has to strongly limit potassium and phosphorus. Which leaves out some fruits, brown sugar, OJ and raisins would have to be limited. I looked on the Davita website and found one recipe for a fruitcake. But I was wondering with all your fruitcake experience, if you thought you could come up with something that would work for him.
Veena Azmanov
Hey Sheila. I'm so sorry to hear about your friend. You would probably need to only include fruits that he is able to eat. You can substitute the sugar with sweetener or agave syrup. Use coffee instead of orange juice. Of course, this is on the top of my head but you probably would need to do some trial and error to see what works best. Sorry my knowledge of food with regards to allergies and medical conditions is quite limited so not sure I am much help.
Grover
Thank you for these tips and all the fruitcake recipes. I made two last year and going to make all your fruitcake recipes again this year. I have already soaked the fruit two months ago for my boozy fruitcake just as you suggested. I wanted to say thank you for all your recipes. They are always 100% fool-proof and the way you write everything with tips and details are very appreciated
Veena Azmanov
Thank you, Grover. So happy you are enjoying my recipes. Fruitcake is sure a big hit during the holidays on my blog so am happy to hear you making it again. Appreciate you coming back to write this feedback. Thank you.
Deborah
Hello Veena, the recipe I used had crystallized ginger in it. I added extra ginger to mine because I love a rich gingerbread flavour. I brushed the cake with honey liqueur & whiskey. I have run out of alcohol. Which alcohol should I use to keep it gingery & not affect the flavour I want to enjoy??
Veena Azmanov
I am a big fan of ginger too. Crystallized ginger would work wonderfully with this recipe.
You can use a Ginger Liquor to keep it moist and gingery. I personally like rum or brandy with my fruit cake.
In winter I infuse my brandy with ginger for medicinal purposes and that would work well too.
Additionally, you can add ginger powder to the liquor or fruit cake.
I hope this helps.
Deborah
Hi Veena,
I already made the fruitcake with Crystallized ginger , Powdered ginger and the other usual spices and fruit. It was a London England recipe.
When I had a piece of the wedding cake, It reminded me of a rich gingerbread cookie taste but obviously not consistency. I’ve vowed I would make it in after 10 years I just made it last Thursday. I have rushed on honey liqueur & Jack Daniels whiskey over it once it came out of the oven and then after 10 hours I brushed it again over top and sides and bottom of the 12“ x 3“ fruitcake. I really want to preserve the delicious gingerbread flavour that I had tasted many years ago. I don’t want it to become a predominately alcoholic flavoured cake. So, should I just stop sprinkling Liquor on it and maybe make a simple syrup so that the cake is brushed all over once a week with it and then that will preserve the flavor? I don’t want it more gingery or more alcohol tasting.
Do I really need to poke holes all through the top of my cake to put a simple syrup in if that is what you would recommend or can I just brush it over the outside of the cake. I’m really surprised that fruitcake will dry out so easily that it Hass to be brushed once a week for six weeks for it to ripen. This is my first cake, and I really want to do it right.
Do I really need to poke holes all through the top of my cake to put a simple syrup in if that is what you would recommend or can I just brush it over the outside of the cake. I’m really surprised that fruitcake will dry out so easily that it Hass to be brushed once a week for six weeks for it to ripen. This is my first cake, and I really want to do it right.
Thank you so much again, Deborah
Veena Azmanov
It all depends on how moist your cake is Deborah. I don't know the recipe but if you don't want alcohol then don't add more alcohol. Sugar syrup will make the cake too sweet to eat so personally I would not use too much sugar syrup. Also, it's not necessary to do it every week if your cake is moist. You can do it every other week. Hope this helps.
Deborah
Hi Veena, how do you know how moist your cake is?
So can I just let it ripen now for six weeks in my refrigerator in the basement? It is wrapped very well with wax paper and then cellophane and I have put it back in it’s 12” x 3” round cake pan with foil over top.
I baked it uncovered at 275°F for five hours and when I put the butter knife in it it came out clean.
Veena Azmanov
Hey Deborah. I cannot speak for somebody else's recipe.
You can definitely try letting it rest in the fridge to ripen. Or you can perhaps contact the website where you got the recipe and see if they have some information about the cake for you.
Sorry not being much help I know, but don't want to misdirect you because each recipe works differently.
Thanks
Elimi
BEST Fruit cake recipe ever Veena. I've been making your recipe for years. Bookmarked it and here I am again.
Veena Azmanov
Thank you, Elimi. So happy that this recipe worked well for you and you enjoy it every year. Thank you so much for coming back to write this feedback. Love to hear from those who tried my recipe.