Traditional english fruit cake recipe

Traditional English Fruit Cake recipe

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About this recipe

In this blog post I will guide you thru the steps and ingredients needed to craft this recipe. Grab your favorite apron and let's start.
This traditional English fruit cake recipe is a classic dessert that has been enjoyed for generations. Packed with a delightful combination of dried fruits, nuts, and spices, this cake is moist, rich, and full of flavor. Perfect for special occasions or afternoon tea, it's a timeless treat that will impress your family and friends. The recipe yields a delicious cake with a beautiful golden-brown crust and a tender crumb. So, gather your ingredients and get ready to bake this scrumptious fruit cake!

Keywords: traditional, English, fruit cake, recipe, dried fruits

Traditional english fruit cake recipe details

Traditional english fruit cake recipe, recipe Rating: 4.7
Number of votes:116 

Ingredients

450 g	butter
450 g	brown sugar
12 large	eggs, separated
450 g	plain flour
2 tsp	ground cinnamon
2 tsp	ground mace
2 tsp	ground cloves
1 tsp	ground allspice (do not confuse with mixed spice; it is not the same)
1 tsp	grated or ground nutmeg
1 tsp	salt
450 g	mixed candied fruit (peach, apricot, pineapple, melon, mango etc, but not those below)
450 g	glacé cherries
450 g	seeded raisins
450 g	seedless raisins
450 g	currants
450 g	dried, pitted dates, coarsely chopped
225 g	candied mixed peel, diced
450 g	walnut halves, broken
250 ml	brandy, whisky or rum
125 ml	coffee, very strong brewed (at least double strength) and cooled
3 medium	oranges, juice and grated zest (unwaxed fruit only)
1 large	lemon, juice and grated zest (unwaxed fruit only)

Instructions

Preheat oven to Gas Mark ¼, 250°F, 120°C. Alternate settings, Gas Mark 1, 275°F, 140°C.

Cream butter and sugar together in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Whisk the egg yolks thoroughly in a separate bowl and add a proportion at a time with a little flour to prevent curdling. Beat vigorously until smooth and creamy.

Mix remaining flour with the spices in another bowl. Mix together the brandy, whisky or rum (whichever is used), coffee, fruit juices and zest in a large jug or bowl.

Sift most of the flour mix some at a time, retaining about 8oz or 200g, into the egg mixture beating as you go, adding a proportion of the juice mix in stages to keep the batter moist and not too stiff to beat.

Mix together in a large bowl all the fruits, nuts and peel and stir in the retained flour. Stir into the batter and beat well.

Pour a small quantity of lemon juice into a clean large bowl. Dampen a piece of kitchen paper with the juice and wipe around the bowl to remove any remaining traces of grease. Add the egg whites and beat until able to hold stiff peaks. Fold carefully into batter mix, trying to retain as much air in the whites as possible. Do not beat!

Grease and line 4 2lb (900g-1kg) loaf tins and lightly grease the lining (I would suggest using silicone paper as it removes more easily and does not itself normally require greasing, other than to join sections.

Spoon in the batter, dividing evenly between the tins.

Bake on a middle shelf without crowding to allow for air circulation, for approximately 3½ hours at the lower setting, or 2½-3 hours at the higher one, or until a skewer inserted into the loaves comes out clean. The recipe recommends that a shallow dish filled with water be placed on the bottom of the oven during the whole of the baking time to prevent the cakes from drying out. Check the loaves about 20-30 minutes before estimated baking time. The finished cakes will be quite darkly coloured, due to the spices used and the brown sugar.

Leave the loaves to cool in their tins for about 15 minutes and then remove to cool on a wire rack. Remove lining when cold – not when using decorative liners, which should be retained. Slice to serve.

To make one loaf:rather than redraft the recipe in its entirety, reduce the quantities of all ingredients specified at 450g to 150g, those at 225g to 60g, 250ml to 60ml, 125ml to 30ml, use 3 eggs, 1 orange, half a lemon, reduce the spices etc from 2 tsp to ½ tsp, or from 1 tsp to ¼ tsp as appropriate. I hope that includes everything! The baking times will remain essentially as before, but may reduce, perhaps by 10-20 minutes, as there will be increased air circulation.

Although there are no special techniques used in this recipe to justify a complexity rating above ‘easy’, I am rating it as ‘medium’ solely for reasons of bulk.

Preparation time:
ca. 1 hr 30 min
Resting time:
ca. 2 hrs
Grade of difficulty:
tricky
Calories per portion:
n/a