I must say that I’ve tried many fruit cake recipes until now. Some of them I’ve developed on my own and some from other food blogs. But, this Rich Fruit Cake has my heart in it. A lot of childhood memories has attached to this cake. Our family Christmas party used to happen at my maternal uncle’s place, and my aunt (uncle’s wife I meant here) used to bake this cake in large batches so that everyone in the family can get plenty of pieces.
An old school cake, it has all the flavours from the rum-soaked fruits, and aroma from the warm spices on every bite, on each crumb. Whenever I asked my Aunt about the recipe, she replied by telling me to use an equal amount of flour, sugar, butter, and dry fruits for the cake. Soaking the dry fruits was optional for her. She baked this cake many times without soaking the dry fruits in alcohol as well. And that didn’t matter to us much we loved the cake just the way it was, the cake was more than a cake, it was Christmas to us.
I like the flavour of alcohol in fruit cakes a lot. So, whenever I make fruit cakes I soak the dry fruits at least a month before Christmas. Soaked fruits add robust flavour and taste to any cake or other bakes, which is unmatchable. I hope you’ll enjoy baking this cake, don’t forget to share your experience with me. 🙂
Rich Fruit Cake
A traditional Rich Fruit Cake, made with rum soaked dry fruits and homemade spice powder. Without this Christmas is incomplete.
Ingredients
- 1½ cups- All-purpose flour/Maida
- 1½ cups- Brown sugar (powdered)
- 1½ cups- Unsalted butter
- 3- Eggs
- 1½ cups- Rum-soaked dry fruits
- 1 tsp- Fruit cake spice mix
- ¼ tsp- Dry ginger powder/sonth
- ¾ tsp- Baking powder
- 1 tsp- Vanilla extract
- Skinless almonds and halved glazed cherries for decorating on top (optional)
Instructions
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Prepare an 8” round cake pan by greasing with oil and place a piece of baking paper/butter paper at the bottom of the pan. Cover the sides of the pan with two sheets of baking paper from inside.
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Before I start, all the ingredients were at room temperature.
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If you’re following my previous posts then you have the rum soaked fruits ready by this time. Measure 1½ cups rum-soaked fruits and keep them on a strainer to drain out the excess liquid.
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In a bowl shift all-purpose flour and baking powder. Add the spice mix and dry ginger powder. Mix well, keep aside.
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In another bowl cream the butter and sugar on medium speed with your electronic hand mixer. In this add the eggs one by one. Add one at a time and keep whisking.
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Add vanilla extract, whisk well. In this add flour mixture into 3 batches, keep whisking until a lump-free batter forms.
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Now add the dry fruits into the batter. Gently mix in with a spatula. The batter would be very thick, which is absolutely fine.
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Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
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Pour the cake batter into the cake pan. Smooth the top with the help of a spatula. Tap cake pan gently on the kitchen counter a couple of times to release the air bubbles.
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Decorate or sprinkle some almonds and glazed cherries on top. Bake for 65 minutes. Insert a sharp knife in the middle of the cake. The cake is ready if the knife comes out clean. If not, bake for some more time, and then check again.
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Cool the cake in the pan for 20 minutes and then run a sharp knife around the edges of the pan and carefully remove the cake. Turn onto a cooling rack and leave there until cool completely.
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When cooled slice, serve and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
- This recipe can be halved according to your preference if you want to bake a smaller cake.
- It will take lesser time if you’re baking a smaller cake.
- During baking time cover the top of the cake pan loosely with a piece of aluminium foil to avoid over-browning on top. Do this after the first 20 minutes or until the top baked to perfect brown colour.
- Baking time may vary a little bit for different ovens and different-sized pans.
- This cake can be made without soaking the dry fruits too. Just add your choice of dry fruits into the batter and proceed further.
- This cake tastes best the next day, and the taste matures further within the next 2-3 days. You can wrap the cake with aluminium foil and store in an airtight container until you’re going to serve it.
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Thank you for sharing this recipe. Can i make this cake gluten free? What and how much to substitue?
Hi Amzad,
You can try with this Gluten-free flour
https://amzn.to/33eQFMr
I tried this cake but it has become too moist can I put little less butter
Hi Amrita, This cake shouldn’t be too moist, there must be an issue with the moisture or baking time. Baking time varies sometimes from oven to oven. Did you strain the soaking fruits well before adding them to the batter? The quantity of the butter is perfect for this recipe,
It looks amazing .thank you for sharing this recipe.