Old English Fruitcake
Old English Fruitcake. NEW VIDEO! Dark and moist with plenty of spices and packed with plenty of sweet glacé fruit. It's been a Christmas tradition in my family for decades.
Originally published on November 7, 2007. Updated to provide new featured photos and a new video!
It's still weeks away, I know, but I've got a head start on a dark old English fruitcake for Spouse. It's a real old English style, dense, dark fruitcake.
I think this one weighs in at between 7 and 8 pounds. It's her absolute favourite. Tomorrow she goes to the rum spa for a soak and a wrap. The cake, that is, not Spouse!
Inspired by my Newfoundland upbringing, this dark English fruitcake with roots in the UK is one of my favourite things to look forward to at Christmas. This is a large cake meant to be served in small pieces.
There are easily 40 portions or more which means there's plenty to share with friends and family whenever they pop by during the Holidays.
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Old English Dark Fruit Cake
Old English Fruitcake - A dark, rich, well spiced old fashioned English style fruitcake that can be made weeks in advance of Christmas.
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups chopped dried prunes (6 oz), chopped
- 1 ¼ cups chopped dates (6 oz), chopped
- 1 ½ cups dark raisins (8 oz)
- 1 ¼ cups golden raisins (6 oz)
- 1 ¼ cups currants (6 oz)
- ¾ cup butter
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- ¾ cup molasses
- ½ cup coffee liqueur, or ½ cup strong black coffee
- Zest and juice of 2 oranges
- 1 cup chopped glace cherries
- 1 cup candied citrus peel
- 1 ½ cups toasted pecans (7 oz), roughly chopped
- 2 teaspoon allspice
- 2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 teaspoon powdered ginger
- 1 teaspoon cloves
- 2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 3 tablespoon cocoa
- 3 eggs
- 1 ⅓ cups all purpose flour
- ½ cup ground hazelnuts or almonds
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- In a large saucepan melt the butter over medium heat and add the raisins, dates, prunes, currents, brown sugar, molasses, spices, coffee liqueur (or coffee) and the orange zest and juice.
- Bring to a gentle boil and very slowly simmer for 10 minutes.
- Remove from heat and allow to cool for 30-45 minutes.
- When cool stir in the beaten eggs.
- Sift together, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda.
- Add the ground nuts and fold through the boiled mixture. Fold in cherries, citrus peel and pecans. Pour into prepared baking pan. You can decorate the top with additional pecan halves, cherries etc., if you like.
- Bake at 300 degrees F for 1 ½ to 2 hours depending upon the size of your pan. Mine took the full two hours in a 10 inch spring form pan.The cake should feel firm to the touch at the center and a wooden toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean. The cake should be cooled completely in the pan on a wire rack before removing.
- At this point you can poke small holes in the top and bottom of the cake with a fork and pour on 4 ounces of dark rum or your favorite whiskey, half on the top, wait ten minutes, then flip it over and pour the remaining half on the bottom.
- Soak several layers of cheesecloth in additional rum if you like and wrap completely around the cake, then cover with several layers of plastic wrap and store in a COOL place.
- When serving, you can add a layer of marzipan or if you have decorated the top with fruit and nuts, brush with a simple glaze of equal parts water and sugar boiled together for about 10-15 minutes.
Notes
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.
Nutrition Information
Yield
40Serving Size
gAmount Per Serving Calories 231Saturated Fat 2gCholesterol 21mgSodium 62mgCarbohydrates 40gFiber 2gSugar 24gProtein 2g
Going to make this cake today.Will let you know how it turns out for me.
I wanted to comment on this marvelous cake!!! I made it with raw apple juice instead of the coffee. I also used half of a lemon juice and zest. I used 1/2 cup coconut as well:) I love this cake because my mother was English and she made this cake every year for Christmas. She passed away last year and baking this cake made me feel closer to her:) my husband absolutely loves it, and that’s a score in my court:)
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe! I will be making it every year! Our cleaners just left with a slice to go and wide eyes and a big smile! I love to share, and so did my Mom. This cake gives me something to share:) thank you again!
One question, do you use fresh currents? I’m in Spain for six months and I bought fresh ones but wasn’t sure so I left them out! I would like to bake this cake again (because I love the fruits and nut benefits) and need to use my currants:)
Molly
So glad it was such a success. Dried currents are all I've ever used. Are fresh currents like small grapes? I would not want to aadd any more moisture than the recipe calls for or the cake might become a soggy mess.
How long can this cake be kept in a cool place before serving? I'm going to give this a whirl, it's reminiscent of fruitcake that my nan used to make.
My mother use to make these and it was always 3 or 4 months before Christmas .She would make two or three at a time. She would freeze them and you only got a piece of one at Christmas and when ever she felt like cutting into another one did you get another slice. They were excellent cakes worth waiting for. But you never touched them with out her consent,
In truth, this cake will last for several years without being frozen. I bake 7 or 8 at a time (my kitchen has a restaurant stove with two cavernous ovens), wrap them in rum soaked muslin and store in cake tins in my unheated basement pantry. The reason for so many, is that when I’m at home I have armies of company and thus there is always something tasty to serve up with tea and coffee. When I say several years, I e kept them as long as 4 or 5. Our receipe is pretty much the same as Barry’s but my family uses dried figs instead of prune and I also add organic dried apricots from Costco. Organic apricots aren’t bright orange and initially it was a way of using them up. We also omit the chocolate (personally it is the only thing I really dislike) and skip all nuts including coconut. My mother claimed nuts suck the moisture out of the cake and become flabby. Last time I made these, I did add molasses for the first time and will again. And jam: strained blackberry or strawberry or black current.
At the risk of rambling, I also make a version of this cake that uses only light coloured ingredients and bright coloured fruits with a lot of citron and pineapple, soaking it in apricot liqueur as a spring/Easterey confection. This year I’m going to diverse from tradition and use some coconut - like a pina colada with cherries and stuff. This cake gets bright coloured dried apricots, dried cranberries, golden raisins and some of the preserved oranges I made some years back to use up a glut I had purchased. We also add a cup of jam to our fruitcakes. For this one, it’s a jar of my apricot jam I make every year anyway.
My grandmother used to make it during “haying” season on the homestead. Here in Nova Scotia, That would have been in June. In those days, (very early 1900’s) there were no refrigerators so they were kept in crocks in the cellar. The cakes contained rum, however, my maternal grandparents were strictly “temperance”. Hmmmm.
I usually make mine about a month before Xmas but there is no real minimum time. I've served it after a couple of days on occasion. Good luck with it.
I took a giant leap of faith,and made this fruit cake for the Christmas season. As you know, fruit cakes are not cheap to make, and are somewhat labor-intensive. This cake was far superior to the one I have made for the past several years. It was moist, dense, and packed with lots of fruit. Everyone loved it.A big thank-you for the post.
Thanks for your comment. I will try it out as well.
This fruitcake looks just like the one my dad bakes every year. He can only bake one single thing, fruitcake, and he does it every Christmas without fail. It makes the whole house smell heavenly!
i am going to try to bake the oldenglish fruit cake. i am also new to baking. maby i should practice on something's easier for some time first?
It's not a difficult recipe I don't think. Determining when to take it out of the oven is where experience is most beneficial.
Hi, how many beaten eggs were used to make this cake, you failed to mention it
I'm a bot confused. I see the number of eggs in the ingredient list. How is that failing to mention it?
This recipe is very similar to the one i use. It keeps very well! I let it sit in rum soaked cheesecloth for about 4 weeks before eating. If the fruitcake is not eaten at Christmas time I freeze it.
Just put this cake in the oven and it smells delicious! Can't wait to eat it during Christmas.
I've been making this recipe since 2009. I use a an old funnel type aluminum cake pan 9.5" diam. and bake it at 300 F Convection for 2 hours and it comes out perfect each time. Absolutely delicious and so fragrant all through our home.....puts you in the X-Mas spirit.
That's fantastic, Linda. Glad to be a small part of your family's Christmas celebrations.
Why do you use ounces to measure ingredients like raisins? Ounces is a measurement of volume!
Fluid ounces is a measurement of volume. Ounces, of course, can also be a weight measurement, as in 16 ounces to a pound.
I'm baking this cake for christmas, and I wanted to know what dimensions is the cake pan that you usually bake this into. Please.
10 inch springform pan. recipe is updated.
I baked it here in BRAZIL and it´s fabulous , the best English cake I have ever eaten, the whole house is with a wonderful smell ... thank you for share it wiht us ....
Happy to hear! Merry Christmas.
So I need to work right away. One question: what ale pan I have to use, 9" or 10"?
Either should work but I'd choose the 10 inch if it were me. The nine inch will probably take longer to bake because the cake will be taller.
I made this fruitcake yesterday and it is now in rum spa for Christmas., I can't wait, as I already know it will be outstanding! Love you're recipes Barry. All the best to you and yours...
i just try baking this beautiful cake, and its really delish. but i have to subs the molases with honey. do you use liquid molasses? just can find dry molasses here..
I've never heard of dry molasses. We only use liquid here.