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
Got an email today announcing a new post wherein someone wanted to know about deleting all the alcohol. As an ingredient, you can substitute fruit juice but beware of soaking the baked cake in cheesecloth moistened with anything other than spirits of one type or another. Most everything else can become support the growth of mould. I have been baking numerous fruitcakes each year since I was a teenager (more than 55 years, that would be) so I’ve had a bit of experience. Also, if you don’t include rum, whiskey, or the
Like in the cakes ingredients, it will alter its shelf life significantly so don’t make it too far ahead. The spirits work to preserve the cakes. I’ve been able to keep cakes literally for years simply wrapped in cloth soaked with liquor and kept in a cool spot inside a tin.
Thanks for sharing this cake recipe. Read your comments so just checking. The "oz" measurement is for weight not for fluids is it not?
So 6 oz is 175 grams (0.175 kilograms) and 8 oz is 230 grams (0.230 kilograms).
If if was for fluids the 6 oz would be 0.360 liters (3,6 deciliters) and 8 oz 0.260 liters (2.6 decilters).
Thank you & best regards from NorternEurope, Finland -
5th of November 2017
Our new recipe software allows me to turn on metric conversion. I have enabled this feature now for this recipe. Please click on Metric to be given the weight measures in grams and millilitre equivalents for liquid ingredients.
THANK YOU this helps enormously!
thanks for the pounds and ounces 😚 it's all I know lol xx
I made this recipe a couple of years ago. My first attempt at making Fruit Cake. It was a huge hit and now I make it every year. First time a recipe turned out exactly as shown in the recipe picture. Time consuming with the chopping but oh so yummy! Hubby loves to douse it with the rum. When we moved it was the first thing he brought into our new home. Also approved by a dear Nfld friend who loves it. Must get making some more for this year!
Hello! Preparing fruitcake here in Montréal and I came across the beautiful cake. I'm not a fan of nuts in my fruitcake (no allergies, just for texture reasons. If I leave out the pecans and keep the ground almonds, would you substitute the pecans with something else, or do you think it will be just fine as is? I'm weary fo taking 225 grams (pecans) out without substituting, but then again, there are already lots of fruit. Thank you in advance!
Just omit them...all will be fine.
Love this recipe! Made a few fruit changes for our tastes. Dried apricots, figs, dried cranberries, and dried cherries. Also, added some candied pineapple. I made sure the ounces were equivalent to the total in the recipe. It came out wonderfully! Also, soaked it in amaretto instead of rum. Gave it a pleasantly milder alcohol flavor. Everyone loved this cake! Even the few sad souls in the family who don't care for fruitcake...(can you imagine)...liked it!
This recipe has converted quite a number of people!
This is a lovely sounding recipe which I will be making in the next couple of days. Won’t be removing anything from this already wonderful recipe - maybe add some dark chocolate!! Thankyou for the metric option. I know it will be a good flavour. MERRY CHRISTMAS to you and yours.
I made this Christmas Cake in several different sized pans, numbering in all 5. I fed it well with alcohol!
3 I have given as presents, 1 as a taster and 1 for us.
It is an amazing flavour and I just wanted to keep eating it - but one has to show restraint. There is a lot of eating to be done over the next few days!!!
I will be making this cake many times in the future, so flavourful and moist, and so easy to make.
Thank goodness you posted it along with other Cakes just recently which I intend to try as well.
MERRY CHRISTMAS
Hi Barry,Do you use a kitchen scale to measure out your fruits and nuts?
Hi Barry just finished wrapping the cake in the plastic wrap would I put it in the bottom of the refrigerator? House smells heavenly. Thank you for the recipe. I enjoyed reading all the comments and replies as well.
Hi Barry. Just finished wrapping the cake in the plastic wrap. Can hardly wait to try it. The house smells heavenly. Can I store it in the refrigerator? Thank you for the recipe.
Yes you can. Did you do the rum soak at all?
Hi Barry I'm taking my first shot at fruitcake and of course I have a question ...i have never liked fruitcake until I had a taste last year and it was yummy...anyway I just zested an orange and tasted it and realized I seriously dislike the orange flavor .do ,I believe it may be the reason I disliked the cake ...I have read all the posts on here and I know you have never substituded any of the ingrediants but I'm wondering if you think it would be ok to just leave out the zest and maybe just add some juice ...the cake looks wonderful I even went to the liquor store ...lol...thanks hope you guys have a great Christmas
Omit it. No problem.
I made this last year and it turned out great. I have it in the oven again now, and will make another batch later today or tomorrow. I get three small loaves from one recipe, and give them as gifts. Thanks for the recipe and clear measurements and instructions.
making this now thank you for recipe , do you have a light fruitcake recipe thats just as good thank you very much
Just search Fruitcake here. You will find several.
I made fruit cake for the first time two years ago for Christmas using this recipe and it was delicious! This is my go-to site for all of my Christmas cookies every year. It has never steered me wrong!
What is the best way to get a nice, clean slice of this cake? A sawing motion with a serrated knife? Straight down with a straight blade? Some other technique? I made this cake a few weeks ago and, just last week, sliced into it for a taste. It was fantastic but it fell apart when I cut into it. Was it my cutting or did I do something wrong in the baking (I split the batter into three small loaves and had to guess at the bake time)?
Barry,You are the best!! Thanks so much for the cup measurements.Have a most wonderful Christmas season with your family.