Holiday Fruit Cake

Holiday Fruit Cake

Recipe courtesy of Tiffani Thiessen

Ingredients:

Fruit: 

  • ½ cup dried apricots, cut in half 
  • ½ cup dried dates, cut in half 
  • ½ cup currants 
  • 1 cup? orange liqueur – is that the right measurement you added Tiff? Just want to get it right since it goes into the batter : ) Also did you rehydrate any other fruit – pretty sure I remember you saying you used ½ cup of each. 
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • ½ cup glazed red cherries
  • ½ cup glazed green cherries 

Cake: 

  • 1 ¼ cup all purpose flour, plus extra for greasing pans 
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 
  • 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
  • ¾ teaspoon ground ginger
  • ½ teaspoon ground allspice 
  • ½ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • ¼ tsp baking soda 
  • 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature, plus extra for greasing pans 
  • 1/2 cup sugar 
  • 1/4 cup molasses 
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1/3 cup orange juice 
  • 1 orange, zested
  • 1 lemon, zested 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly butter and flour four small (4-inch) springform pans or one large 9-inch springform pan. 

In a small saucepan combine the apricots, dates, currants, cinnamon and orange liqueur. Bring the mixture to a boil and then remove from heat and cover. Let steep for 30 minutes or until the dried fruit is reconstituted and softened. 

In a large bowl whisk together flour, spices, salt, baking powder and soda. Set aside. 

In a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment beat together the butter, sugar and molasses until everything is evenly combined. Beat in the eggs, one at a time until incorporated. Next stir in half of the flour, followed by the orange juice and then the remaining half of the flour mixture. Fold in the orange and lemon zest. 

Once the fruit is finished rehydrating, stir in the glazed cherries. Add half of the fruit and all of the liquid into the batter and fold to combine. Evenly divide the batter between the cakes and then top with the remaining dried fruit. 

Place the cake pans on a baking sheet and place in the middle of the oven for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. If you are baking a larger cake, like the 9-inch, it may need to cook longer, check it ever 10 minutes, after the first hour of baking until it is finished. 

Remove from oven, let cool 30 minutes before un-molding and serving.

Photography by Rebecca Sanabria

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gm

This batter looks lighter than most fruitcakes— I should send it to my husband, who makes fruitcake every year and mostly winds up eating it himself because it’s just so heavy. :)

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