Today I am going seriously retro and making fruit cake!  Yes, I said fruit cake!  What better way to usher in the holiday?  I know that some people don't enjoy this regular holiday treat, but I feel like fruit cake gets a bad wrap so I am here to share with you what I dubbed the fruit cake hater's fruit cake!  This has zero candied peel, no citron and no bitter flavor. What this does have is delicious, sweet fruit and lots of warm winter spice that will make you happy this holiday season.  So forget what you know about fruit cake and let's take a walk on the retro side! #christmas #fruitcake #homemade #recipe #holiday #tradition

I did not ever like to eat fruit cake.  My mom used to make it when I was a kid.  I remember the tubs of gem colored fruit with their tiny dices of red, yellow and green.  I remember thinking that this must taste good but it never did.  It wasn't till I grew older and figured out what I didn't like that I decided to make my own version of this holiday favorite.  This is definitely a fruit cake that can be enjoyed for its dense spicy goodness and fruit filled bounty.

​

6ed1ba6c68857ffbe0979a2a159fd13c630d3d1d8c4460802b

Due to the length of recipe please click to print

Let's Be Social!

Fruitcake Gems

google.com, pub-2484077384749308, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0

Noreen's Kitchen

Meet Noreen!

Hi!  I'm Noreen, wife, mother of two amazing, almost grown, daughters, content creator, cook, baker and sister in Christ. Welcome to my Kitchen!   I hope you stick around, enjoy the recipes and share them with those you love!

This recipe is the same one I shared many years ago for a traditional fruit cake baked in a 10 inch tube pan.  That is another great way to enjoy this recipe.  However it takes a very long time to bake and then slicing and serving can be a task.  So making this recipe in cupcake tins is a great alternative!  Little individual fruit cake gems that can easily be shared in a box of four or six or more and keeping some for yourself.  I love this way of doing it!

This cake is really a lot of fruit held together by a little bit of batter.  The fruit consists of chopped dates, golden raisins, red and green glace' cherries and candied pineapple along with pecan halves.  This is all held together by a butter cake batter made with butter, brown sugar flour and eggs, which, in this case act as the main leavener.  

1 Cup good quality mayonnaise
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper

The batter goes together much like any pound cake batter and then the fruits and nuts are added and briefly mixed in.  Then I divided the batter amongst 24 cupcake tins that were lined with regular paper liners.  These baked in a 275 degree oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and free of batter.

These will need to cool completely before icing.  Icing is not required but I love it on this cake.  It adds that special festive holiday touch and takes the flavor over the top.  I like to allow these to cool overnight before icing.  Additionally, you can choose to "soak" these cakes with brandy, rum, or vanilla simple syrup if desired right after they come out of the oven.  .

The glaze for these is super simple powdered sugar glaze with a bit of cream and a bit of corn syrup.  The latter helps the icing to be a bit glossy and set perfectly.  I also added vanilla extract along with Fiore Di Scicilla which is a highly concentrated extract that is a blend of vanilla extract and orange oil.  It really makes all the difference when flavoring this glaze.  If you don't have the fiore, don't worry!  You can add a bit of orange extract or a few drops of orange oil and get a similar result.  

I topped each fruit cake gem with a bit of the icing and decorated with a pecan half along with two halves of red candied cherry and one quarter of a green candied cherry.  It looks like a holly leaf and berry when finished.  You can decorate yours any way you like. You can also leave them plain or sprinkle with holiday cake decs or even leave the icing off all together and serve them au natural!

No matter how you serve these, they are going to be enjoyed, even by people who think they don't like fruit cake.  I promise these won't be reserved for door stops!  They will be gone before you know it!

You can also make this recipe in a regular tube pan, in the cupcake tins, in mini cupcake tins, in loaf pans or in mini loaf pans.  It will bake up perfectly any way you choose to do it.  Refer to the recipe on my website for a full run down on baking times for each configuration of this fruit cake.

I hope you will give this a try sometime soon and I hope you love it!

Happy Holidays!