Active Time
35 minutes
Total Time
15 hours plus cooling
It became a punchline in the latter half of the twentieth century, but a good fruitcake recipe is no joke. Often considered a Christmas dessert, fruitcake has a long legacy, with cooks in various corners of Europe baking breads with candied fruit and spices in the early Middle Ages. Iterations abound, from German stollen to Italian panettone to British dundee cakes to Caribbean black cake to Scotland’s pastry-wrapped, citron-studded black bun cake, often served on New Year’s Eve and Day.
This cake recipe requires advance planning to give the soaked fruit time to macerate, but the prep time is otherwise minimal. It’s easy to customize, too. Swap a tablespoon of vanilla extract for the rum in the apricot glaze. Use dried cranberries, apples, chopped prunes, or any mix of dried fruits instead of raisins and currants; and candied pineapple, or lemon or orange peel, for the glacéed cherries and angelica. Mix in a dash of ground allspice, cinnamon, or cardamom with the dry ingredients, or stir a handful of dark chocolate chips into the cake batter with the nuts.
The rare baked good with a shelf life, traditional fruitcake lasts at room temperature for up to six months (though we recommend no longer than two). It doesn’t need to be in an airtight container, but it should be kept in a cool, dry space, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and aluminum foil.
Ingredients
20 servings
Preparation
Step 1
Combine 2 cups diced candied mixed fruits, 2 cups golden raisins, 1½ cups dried currants, 1 cup dark raisins, ½ cup chopped candied angelica, and ½ cup halved candied red cherries in a large bowl. Pour ¾ cup dark rum over; toss to combine. Cover fruit mixture and let sit at room temperature 12 hours.
Step 2
Place a rack in middle of oven; preheat oven to 300°. Toast 1 cup blanched almonds in a dry small skillet over medium heat, tossing often, until slightly darkened and fragrant, about 3 minutes. Let cool, then finely grind in spice mill.
Step 3
Butter springform pan and line bottom with a round of parchment paper; butter parchment. Sift together 1½ cups (188 g) all-purpose flour, ½ tsp. baking powder, ½ tsp. Diamond Crystal or ¼ tsp. Morton kosher salt, ¼ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg, and ¼ tsp. ground ginger in a small bowl.
Step 4
Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, and 1 cup (packed; 200 g) brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in 4 large eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Strain fruit soaking liquid through a fine-mesh sieve into bowl with butter mixture; beat to combine. Pat fruit mixture dry with paper towels, then toss with ⅓ cup of the flour mixture in another small bowl. Add remaining flour mixture to bowl with butter mixture in 4 additions, folding with a rubber spatula just until incorporated after each addition. Fold in fruit mixture, ground almonds, and ½ cup chopped raw walnuts or pecans just until combined. Scrape batter into prepared pan; smooth top.
Step 5
Fill 2 loaf pans with hot water and set in oven on opposite sides of rack; set springform pan in between. Bake fruitcake 1 hour. Lightly beat remaining 1 large egg in a clean small bowl, then brush over cake. Return fruitcake to oven; bake another 1 hour. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cake cool in pan 30 minutes. Remove sides from pan and invert fruitcake onto rack; carefully remove pan bottom and parchment. Turn cake right side up and let cool completely.
Step 6
Meanwhile, bring ½ cup apricot jam and remaining 1 Tbsp. dark rum to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Strain through a clean fine-mesh sieve into a heatproof small bowl, pressing on solids; discard solids. Let apricot glaze cool slightly.
Step 7
Decorate fruitcake with candied angelica and candied red cherries as desired. Brush top of cake with some apricot glaze (save remaining glaze for another use).
Do Ahead: Cake can be made 2 months ahead. Wrap in plastic, then foil, and store at room temperature.
Editor’s note: This fruitcake recipe was first printed in the December 1991 issue of ‘Gourmet’ as ‘Christmas Fruitcake.’ Head this way for our best Christmas desserts →
Leave a Review
Reviews (26)
Back to TopThis recipe is not for the the faint of heart. It's for a seasoned baker. It takes a lot of shopping, planning, know-how and above all, patience. Some strength is necessary also to mix all the ingredients together. But what you will produce will be a winner of a fruitcake. I love a fruitcake like this one - with just enough batter to hold the fruit in place. I punch holes in the fruitcake while it is in the storing stage with rum. Absolutely gorgeous and delicious.
Anonymous
Fairfax, VA
1/5/2024
I made this fruitcake out of the pages of Gourmet all those years ago...but thought it was earlier than 1991. Is this the same cake? I remember thinly sliced fresh cocoanut. Cake looks the same, I yelped when I saw it.. Dying to try this.
Gwen Ethelbah
Sandia Park, NM
12/3/2023
I've made this recipe quite a few times over the last 10 years. This year I tried to double the batch so I could make 2 loaves and 1 round tube cake. Mistake! I should have make them separately. The batch was so massive that I had a hard time time finding a large enough bowl to mix the batter in. I ended up digging out my huge roasting pan for the final mixing. I can't find candied angelica here, so I doubled the glaceed cherries, a mixture of red and green. Otherwise, I followed the recipe exactly. I find there isn't much liquid to pour off the fruit once it has soaked in the rum overnight. My husband is a Brit, so he will cover the tube cake with marsipan and then royal icing as per tradition. I like my cake plain, so I will do the apricot glaze with cherries and some pecan halves to decorate the loaves. The loaves took only 90 minutes to bake, so watch them if you use smaller pans. It's not Christmas around here without this cake. It's a great recipe!
helenjennings63
Vancouver, bc
11/28/2014
It's as good gluten free!
patidou
12/21/2013
I replace the almonds by hazelnuts and the walnuts by pecans.
patidou
12/21/2013
Excellent cake, this year I will do it gluten free. I hope it will be as good. And I glaze it with my homemade bio marmalade: orange lemon grapefruit ginger.
patidou
Barcelona( but originally Canada)
12/21/2013
I love this recipe and it lends itself to lots of variations in the fruit, as other reviewers have noted. You can order angelica online (I think Market Hall Foods carries it) or you can grow and make your own (next year). Question though-how long do you cook it if you make it in the mini loaf pans? I'll check back periodically to see if anybody can help me out on that one-this year I'm winging it! Happy Holidays!
hadeshnds
Saratoga, CA
11/26/2013
I made this last year, baked in 8 small loaf tins, and aged for three months (wrapped in cheesecloth and fed 1/week for the first month with brandy, and 2/month for the remaining 2 months with brandy). I substituted dried and pickled fruits for the glaceed fruits, and chose fruits which I'd found common to renaissance cookery: 2 cups dried yellow raisins, 1 c raisins, 1 cup dried tart Montmorency cherries, 2-2.5 cups of a medley of chopped fruit: dried black mission figs, dried apricots, and fresh medjool dates. I also included 1 c. chopped pickled citron (I'd pickled Buddha's hand citron using my recipe for watermelon rind pickles). I aged the fruit for one week in brandy (not rum), adding more brandy when the fruits absorbed all the liquid. Then I made the cakes following the recipe, with one further exception: I used a scant cup of almond flour for the toasted and ground almonds. This year, the angelica in my garden was mature enough to candy the stalks, so I'm only adding 1/2 c chopped pickled citron and 1/2 c. chopped candied angelica stems. Can't wait to try this year's batch at Yuletide!
rhiain
Seattle, WA
10/1/2013
Has anyone tried this recipe as cup cakes? I use foil cup cake "papers" for fruit cakes and would like to try this one.
LWBennett
10/31/2012
I have been making this wonder for 9 years now, and ever since I made some improvements, for instance I leave the fruit soaking for a couple of weeks, and we leave the cake in a wooden box for six months pouring brandy (I use it instead of dark rum) over it every two weeks for the first two months! This is a real hit at home, every one is looking after christmas dinner for this specialty
aarangol
Bogota, Colombia
12/13/2011
I make this every year in mini loaf pans to give away and they are a huge hit! The first year I made it I soaked more fruit with the intent of making more right away, which never happened; so the fruit ended up soaking for a year. The following year they were so wonderful that I have done it that way ever since. Highly recommended-just turn the fruit every couple of months or whenever you think of it. I also submerge the fruit in order to have enough liquid to drain into the batter. Yum!
jesscilbrith
Canaan, NH
12/16/2010
WhenI was growing up A&P sold Ann Page fruitcakes and I used to wait all year just to bite into one. This recipe is as close to that ambrosia as I have ever found. I too cut back on the jam and gave the cake a rum bath once a week for several weeks before cutting into it. Wonderful.
PHiggins328
Boston,MA
12/1/2007
I rate it three forks, but the rating is really for my altered version. The original was too sweet imo, and I don't like using those glaceed fruits anyway. On my second attempt I used 7.5-8 cups of assorted dried fruits and nuts. I poured 2 cups of hot rum (Grand Marnier is nice also or any fruity liqueur) over them and let the fruit macerate for at least 4 hours, overnight is fine. Next day I made the cake recipe as indicated, through the egg ingredient (only needed four as I did not glaze.) Baked it in two 8" round cake pans (using doubled foil pans worked fine as it's easier to give them away in disposable pans.) I did place a pan of hot water in the oven to increase moistness. Depending on the pans you use, check for doneness after a reasonable length of time. The tester should not come out wet, but not bone-dry. I removed from the oven and let them sit in the pans for about 15 minutes. Using a skewer I poked some holes and poured another generous cup of hot liquor over each one. I let them cool in the pan, then wrapped tightly and refrigerated (refrigeration increases the firmness, easier to cut them.) A few days later I added another 1/2-3/4 cup of room temp liquor to each, wrapped tightly again. I have been told that these are my best fruitcakes ever, and I am a pretty well-thought of baker.
Anonymous
New York, NY
12/6/2004
I really hate fruitcake but made this recipe for my mother. It's delicious!! Everyone who's tasted it loves is, fruitcake lovers and haters alike. The only thing I noticed is that there wasn't any juice left to strain in the batter once the dried fruit was soaked overnight. Oh well, I just added more!! I would add at least 1/2 cup more walnuts the next time, though.
Anonymous
ontario, canada
12/22/2003
This is not the recipe for me, I found it much too sweet, and I used primarily unsweetened dried fruit and maybe 2 cups of the glaceed. I think the apricot glaze put the sweetness way over the top. More than 20 years ago Gourmet published a recipe for Fruitcake Haters' Fruitcake which I think is still the best ever:Cream together 4 sticks (2c) butter, with 2 1/4 c brown sugar, and 1 c honey. Add 10 eggs one at a time, beating well. In another bowl sift together 4 c sifted flour, 2 t each of cinnamon and baking powder, 1 t allspice, 3/4 t salt. Stir half of dry mix into the sugar mix. In remaining dry mix dredge 7 1/2 cups assorted dried fruit bits and nuts (apricots, dates, pecans, golden raisins, etc). Combine 1 c apricot nectar, 1/2 c light cream,& 2 T lemon juice, add to batter, fold in the fruits. Divide batter among 4 buttered and floured 9.5 by 5 inch loaf pans and bake in preheated 250 degree F (yes,250) oven for 2.5-3 hours, until tester comes out clean. Let cool in pans on a rack. In a bowl combine 1 c brandy and 1/4 c orange liqueur and sprinkle each cake with 1/4 the mixture. Let cakes stand one hour. Remove from pans, wrap tightly in foil, chill at least one week. Excellent!
elaine
New York, New York
12/10/2003
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