Make-Ahead Holiday Dessert: Fruit Cake Recipe

There is no doubt that holiday season is the busiest time of the year. That’s why to ease out things, we all use a few shortcuts around this time, and one of our favorite tricks is preparing a holiday dessert ahead of time. The ones that you can freeze and save for later. Today, we bring to you this fruit cake recipe that you can make days, weeks, or even months ahead.

Make-Ahead Holiday Dessert: Fruit Cake

This season make a delicious fruit cake!

Image via: Flourishing Foodie

Total time: Preparation 25 minutes + Cooking 2 hours, 10 minutes

Yields: 12-15 slices

Ingredients

1 kg mix dried fruit

1 zest of orange and juice

1 zest of lemon and juice

150 ml brandy, whisky, or rum

250 g butter, softened

200 g brown sugar

175 g plain flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons all spice

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

100 g almond flakes

4 eggs, large

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

This Canadian fruit cake is a delicious twist on the traditional recipe

Image via: Kitchen Frau

Procedure

1. Put dried fruits, zests, juice, alcohol, butter, and sugar in a large pan and set over medium heat. Bring to boil then lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Put the fruit mixture into a large bowl and allow it to cool for 30 minutes.
2. Heat the oven to 150 degree Celsius. Line a deep 20cm cake tin with a double layer of baking parchment and then wrap a double layer of newspaper on the outside. Tie with a string to secure.
3. Add the remaining ingredients to the fruit mixture and stir well. Make sure that there are no pockets of flour. Pour it into the prepared tin and level the top with a spatula. Bake in the centre of the oven for 2 hours.
4. Remove the cake from the oven, poke holes in it with a knife or a skewer and spoon over 2 tablespoons of your preferred alcohol. Allow the cake to cool completely in the tin.
5. Peel off the baking parchment and then wrap well in cling film before storing. Feed the cake with 1 to 2 tablespoon of alcohol every fortnight. Don’t feed the cake during the final week to give its surface a chance to dry before icing.

We hope you enjoy this make-ahead holiday dessert recipe. Now it’s time to get baking and freezing so that you have at least one less thing to do during the fun season.

For more Christmas desserts on Stagetecture, click here.