Fruitcake: The Traditional Recipe

Specialty hailing from England, the fruitcake is the perfect cake for tea time. We invite you to discover the traditional recipe for this cake made with candied fruits and currants.

Ingredients

Here are the necessary ingredients to prepare a candied fruit cake for 6 people:

150 g of candied fruits.
150 g of currants.
1 Earl Grey tea bag.
5 cl of amber rum.
100 g of icing sugar.
120 g of unsalted butter.
160 g of flour.
1 packet of baking powder.
3 eggs.
1 pinch of salt.

Candied Fruit Preparation

To prepare a candied fruit cake, you can use various types of candied fruits: angelica, candied orange and lemon peel, and candied cherries.

Cut the candied fruits into very small dice, except for the cherries.

If you're using candied cherries, simply cut them in half.

Preparation of Raisins

For this candied fruit cake recipe, you need to soak the currants in tea.

1. Prepare a bowl of Earl Grey tea and soak the raisins in the bowl with the tea bag.

2. Once the tea has cooled, add the rum and continue to macerate for at least 30 minutes.

Tip for candied fruits and raisins

To prevent candied fruits and raisins from sinking to the bottom of the cake mold, you should flour them before incorporating them into the candied fruit cake batter.

1- Lightly flour the candied fruits after cutting them.

2- Drain the raisins, keeping the tea and rum mixture for later in the recipe.

3- Dry the raisins with paper towels and flour them.

Preparation of melted butter

Another secret to making a delicious candied fruit cake is to use powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar.

You can then melt the butter and incorporate the powdered sugar directly into the melted butter. This trick will save you from having to cream the butter.

1- Melt the butter in a saucepan.

2- Add the powdered sugar.

3- Let it cool until the sugar is completely dissolved.

Cake Batter Preparation

1- Pour the sweetened butter into a large mixing bowl.

2- Whisk the whole eggs in a bowl and fold them into the butter.

3- Mix the flour, salt, and baking powder and add them to the batter in three parts.

4- Whisk well until the batter is smooth and uniform.

5- To finish the fruitcake batter, fold in the floured raisins and candied fruits.

Baking the candied fruit cake

1- Preheat the oven to 240°C (464°F).

2- Pour the mixture into a greased and floured loaf pan.

3- Bake the candied fruit cake for 5 minutes at 240°C (464°F), then lower the temperature to 180°C (356°F).

4- Continue baking for 40 minutes at 180°C (356°F) until the cake is nicely golden.

5- Once out of the oven, brush the cake with the mixture of tea and rum. There is no need to use all of the macerating liquid.