The Quintessential Christmas Fruit Cake! No… A GOOD One!

We’ve all been fooled into believing that a Christmas Fruit Cake need be a brick of sickeningly sweet & sticky cake and fruit. Not so!!

Although we’ve shared this recipe before, it was time to do a show & tell because it is my favorite Christmas cake and I want you to believe in the magic of Christmas Fruit Cake too! Haha!

Here’s how:

INGREDIENTS:
• 1 cup soft butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tsp almond extract (for allergies, use vanilla extract)
• 8 large eggs
• 4 cups flour
• 16 oz raisins
• 4 oz red candied cherries, cut in half
• 4 oz green candied cherries, cut in half
• 8 oz candied pineapples, cut in half

DIRECTIONS:
1) Preheat oven to 300°. Using a 10″ tube pan, grease it with butter or cooking spray – don’t forget the middle tube – then line the bottom & sides with wax paper. 
2) Beat butter, sugar, and almond extract until light and fluffy.
3) Add the eggs one at a time and blending each before adding the next.
4) Gradually mix in the flour.
5) Fold in the raisins, cherries and pineapples, then carefully place in pan.
6) Bake for 2 hours 25 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack in the pan for 30 minutes. Then remove the pan and let it fully cool.

To make it easier, buy tube pan liners for easy prep. You’ll find candied fruit in the nut/raisin section of your local supermarket.

What sets this fruit cake apart is the cake itself is not overly sweet. The fruit takes the sweet stage! We like to cut it into smaller chunks to indulge.  I love it for breakfast during this decadent time of year, but of course it’s a great sweet treat all day long!

Annette