Christmas Fruitcake

fruit cake on wire tray with gold snowflake ornament underneath, gold knife beside, cranberries, and greenery around with powdered sugar dusted on top of cake.

Dense, full of festive flavor, and the perfect classic bake to enjoy this Christmas season! This homemade Fruitcake is not only super simple to make, but tastes SO much better than store-bought. This is definitely the one fruitcake you won't want to regift!

Course: Desserts

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 50

Soaking Time: 1

Total Time: 1 1

Servings:

Calories: 441kcal

Ingredients

¼ cup dried cherries
⅓ cup dried currants
½ cup golden raisins
½ cup dried apricots chopped
⅓ cup unsalted pistachios roasted
3 Tablespoons rum
¾ cup salted butter room temperature
½ cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs room temperature
1½ cups all purpose flour*
1¼ teaspoons baking powder

Instructions

In a medium bowl, combine cherries, currants, raisins, apricots, pistachios, and rum.
Cover and let stand for 24 hours.
When ready to bake, heat oven to 350℉.
Spray a 9 inch loaf pan with baking spray. Set aside.
With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Sift flour and baking powder into mixture.
Mix only to blend.
Fold in fruit and nut mixture.
Spoon into prepared pan.
Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until cake tests done.

Notes

*This recipe was written using an average of the dip and sweep method for measuring flour and the spoon and level method. If you are using a scale, you will need to add 3/4 oz or 22 g to the measurement for each cup of flour.

Substitutions:

You can substitute bourbon or brandy for the rum.
If you would like to make this recipe without alcohol, simply omit macerating the fruit mixture. You can also add 1 teaspoon of vanilla to the cake batter to help add flavor!

Expert Tips:

You need shelled, roasted, unsalted pistachios for this recipe.
Be careful to not over-mix the cake batter!
When baking, it's best to use a cake tester or an instant read thermometer to tell when this cake is baked. If using a thermometer, the cake should read about 210 degrees.
If the cake is over-baked, it will be dry and unpleasant to eat.

Nutrition