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
I have been wanting to make this cake for years now but since my husband and kids say they don't like fruitcake I decided against it. But I thought if there is any Christmas that needs a fruitcake and a reminder of home and old family memories, it is this year. I have not had fruitcake since my grandmother passed in 2009. I just finished wrapping the cake in the rum soaked cheesecloth, can't wait to try it at Christmas, even if I eat the whole thing myself lol, I used Kahlua for the coffee liqueur ingredient. Reading reviews I realized I should have made it earlier but I'm sure it will be fine. It did take 2 hours and 45 minutes to bake in a 10 inch springform but my oven always takes longer than directed in recipes. Since we moved to Fort McMurray in 2012, I discovered your website looking for snowballs and I have been using your recipes ever since, our Christmas favourites are the cherry cake, five star bars and the mice cookies but I have tried so many of your other recipes all so good, Thanks Barry for doing what you do!!
New Brunswick, Canada. My Mum is now in a Residence and biting at the bit as not allowed to cook over there. Spent the day making meat pies, white bread and your fabulous cake. I added Rum and Brandy to a simple syrup to augment the liquor, I think it turned out great. Thanks for sharing such a great recipe. We both were marvelling at the smell of the combination of ingredients that went into this cake. Thanks for sharing. Can't wait for Christmas.
Can the recipe be halved? Just too big for two people.
Sure, just be mindful that a smaller cake will take less time
What is the best size for baking the batter if I decide to use loaf (rectangular shaped) pans? And how would that size pan influence baking time? My mother-in-law (from Liverpool), stored her cakes in air tight cracker tins, and she also used loaf shaped tins. I am not sure if that is how it is said.
When using loaf pans, baking time would have to be adjusted. Check it after an hour and test with a toothpick
Getting ready to make this again for the third time in a row. My English dad absolutely loves this recipe and says it reminds him of the cakes he had when he was young. My non-fruit cake eating friends, family and neighbours have been converted by this cake. Perfect recipe.
I made this last year and I was amazed with the awesome flavor (flavour) profiles it had. However, the texture of my cake was very gooey and fudge-like. Was this an issue of under baking or is that the way it is supposed to be?
It shouldn’t be gooey. I think it was underbaked
Only tried this Christmas cake recently asa trial run for Christmas. Brilliant. I live 8n England and tried many recipes. This year making a cake for my family and sisters families. Don’t mess with the recipe, the cocoa is fine, dosn’t smell or taste like chocolate cake. Thanks for the recipe
Hi there, I am wondering as to the molasses. Is it the "Fancy Molasses" or do you use "Black Strap Molasses" I have both all the time as I use it a lot in cookies and brownies etc. Which do you use in this recipe. Thank You in advance.
We use fancy molasses
I’ve really never made that many fruit cakes but my husband loves dark fruit cake… so when I came upon your “Old English Dark Fruit Cake” a few days ago I thought I’d try it. Was so excited … it was heavenly … dark, rich & moist!!! I followed your recipe exactly and used the 10” springform pan & baked it for 2 hours … perfect! Needless to say, I’ll be baking it every Christmas! My husband loves it! Thank you so much for sharing!
Love my Rock Recipes 1 & 2 … the best!
Made this last night. It took 3 hours to bake but I’m at altitude. No nuts since reviewers said nuts get soft but still came in at 6lbs without first rum bath. This was fun to make. Thank you for posting such great recipes all the time.
Can I use cake and pastry flour instead of AP flour in making the Old English dark fruit cake?
Made the Old English Dark Fruit cake and it turned out great.
I want to make another but would like to know if I can use Cake and Pastry Flour in place of AP flour? I need to use up the C&P flour I have on hand.
Made this today. The smell was fabulous throughout the house.
My sister swears by your recipes. And I really wanted to try this.
Lost my Grandmother Barlows recipe, so fingers crossed it looks very much like hers.
I love this fruitcake. I’ve made it for the past 3 years and this year I doubled the batch. Even friends who claim that they don’t care for fruitcake will take a second slice. Thank you for this! I cut back a little on the molasses and add a bit of maple syrup.
Made this cake yesterday, beautiful moist cake. Reminds me of the cake my grandmother, from Brigus, use to make. Thank You.