Christmas Fruit Cake / Kerala Plum Cake.

Christmas is incomplete without having this Christmas Fruit Cake. Along with that, there are many more dishes we make during the season. You might be interested in trying some other Christmas-related recipes.

That’s a great point! Christmas Fruit Cake is indeed a traditional treat that’s often associated with the holiday season. It’s fascinating how different regions have their own names for it, like Christmas Cake, Black Cake, or Plum Cake. And yes, plums were originally a key ingredient, although modern recipes often feature a variety of dried fruits and nuts. Do you have a favorite recipe or tradition surrounding Christmas Fruit Cake?

This is an English tradition that has evolved since the 15th century. However, we have to admit that the traditional Christmas Fruit Cake has undergone significant changes in its texture and ingredients over the years.

As we all know, fruit cakes can be expensive and labor-intensive to make. However, it’s really worth the effort to prepare it in advance and serve it on Christmas day.

While some people make fruit cake using wheat flour, it’s not my personal preference. Additionally, you can choose to use only egg whites if you prefer, but in this recipe, I’ve used both egg whites and egg yolks.

The traditional Christmas Fruit Cake typically contains alcohol. To simplify the process, I’ve skipped the ‘feeding the cake’ step, instead using rum-soaked dry fruits in the recipe. For those interested, the traditional method involves making the cake weeks in advance, then poking holes in it and brushing it with rum or brandy every week until Christmas, storing it wrapped in plastic wrap and aluminum foil in an airtight container.

 

Christmas Fruit Cake is a dark, rich, heavy, and moist cake loaded with plenty of dry fruits. Although it’s not a budget-friendly recipe, it’s definitely worth the effort and time you invest in making it.

Originally, fruit cakes were made for special occasions like holidays, weddings, and baptisms. Over time, this rich and vibrant cake became a staple at Christmas celebrations, eventually earning the title of Christmas Fruit Cake.

I’ve made this recipe multiple times, but this time I’ve finally achieved the ideal texture. Some people prefer loading their Christmas Fruit Cake with lots of dry fruits and using minimal flour, just enough to hold it together. I’ve tried that approach before, but personally, I prefer using fewer dry fruits and a bit more flour to get a better balance. Feel free to adjust the amount of dry fruits to your liking – it’s completely optional!

Additionally, the amount of sugar in this recipe is sufficient, considering the dry fruits added are naturally sweet and contribute to the overall sweetness of the cake.

European cake recipes often feature dried fruits in various sweet treats, not just Christmas Fruit Cake. For instance, Italians add candied fruits to Panettone, while Caribbean Black Cake is known for its rum-soaked dried fruits, similar to this Christmas Fruit Cake. Similarly, Genoa Cake, an Italian Christmas treat, typically includes rum-soaked dried fruits. Feel free to experiment and adapt this recipe to suit your taste preferences, resulting in a unique fruit cake that’s distinct from regional and international variations.

To enhance the flavors in this fruit cake, I added lemon and orange zest to the rum-soaked dry fruits. With minimal candied orange slices in the mix, I compensated by incorporating a bit more orange zest and juice directly into the cake batter.

I fondly remember my dad cutting the Christmas Fruit Cake on Christmas morning and offering it to us before breakfast. Those were special moments, and I’m nostalgic for those times. This year feels incomplete without them. We used to take the cake as gifts to friends and relatives during the Christmas season. My mom would make large batches, sharing some with our neighbors as soon as it was ready.

This recipe is adapted from my mom, Grace Mathew Mankavil, with a few tweaks from me. I’ve been following her recipe for years.

You might also like my Chocolate Banana Cake, Chocolate Pastry, Pound Cake, Black Forest Cake, Red Velvet Cup Cake

So, here goes the recipe of Christmas Fruit Cake.. 

Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Baking Time: 1 hour 80 minutes.
Servings: 10 to 15 people
Calories: 333 / 100 grams Author – Seena

Ingredients for Christmas Fruit Cake

All Purpose Flour – 260 grams
Almond Flour – 75 grams
Brown sugar – 1 cup
Unsalted Butter – 225 grams
Eggs – 4 small or 3 big (164 grams)
Rum Soaked Dry Fruits – 3 to 4 cups
Orange Juice – ¼ cup (optional)
Orange zest – of one orange
Baking Powder – 1tsp.
Vanilla Essence – 1 ½ tsp.
Ground Mixed spices – ¼ tsp. each of nutmeg, cloves, cardamom and cinnamon.
Salt – 2 generous pinches

How to make Kerala Christmas Fruit Cake:

Grind all the spices to fine powder and keep aside. Butter a cake tin sized 20 cm and line the bottom and sides of the pan with butter paper. The butter paper on the sides should extend little above the rim of the pan.

Take a big bowl. Add all the dry ingredients including all-purpose flour, almond flour, baking powder, ground spices and salt. Whisk everything together by using an electric mixer or a hand whisk.

Take your rum soaked dry fruits in another big bowl and add in 4 tbsp. all- purpose flour from the flour mixture you have taken to prepare this cake. Toss it well with a wooden or plastic spoon to coat all the dry fruits and nuts.

Now pre heat your oven to 325 degrees F (160 degree Celsius) for about 10 minutes. Don’t do this step in the beginning itself as pre heating of oven should not take more than 10 minutes.

Arrange your electric mixer. Add in butter in the bowl of the mixer. Beat the butter until it is creamy. Now add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time and beat well after adding each egg. Scrape down the sides of the bowl whenever it is needed. Add in the orange juice, vanilla essence and orange zest and beat it again. Next add the rum soaked dry fruits and fold in everything together on low speed. Your cake mixture is ready now.

Take your prepared cake tin and scrape the cake batter in to the pan. Shake it slightly to settle it and to release any air bubbles formed inside. Decorate the top of your cake with skinless almonds. Take your baking sheet and place this in the preheated oven. Bake the cake for one hour at 325 degree F. After one hour, reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F and continue to bake for about 80 minutes or until a long skewer inserted into the centre of the pan comes out clean.

Remove the cake from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool completely. Here we are not going to feed the cake with rum as we have added rum soaked dry fruits in this recipe. Wrap your cake in a plastic film and place it in an air tight container. Store it in a cool dry place. If you are living in a warm climate, refrigerate it.

My Recipe Notes on Kerala Plum Cake:
1. All ingredients should be in room temperature.

2. Alcohol: Fruit cake can be made without alcohol too. But for getting the correct flavour and feeling of Christmas, it is a must to soak your dry fruits in rum. When you have this cake, you should get a feeling that it’s Christmas Fruit Cake.

3. Dry Fruits: Figs and prunes give the cake its dark colour and heavy cake. And if you want a lighter version cake, choose cherries and apricots. Adding all these dry fruits result in a medium colour ver fruit cake. But, there is no hard and fast rule here, use whatever fruits you like. It’s really up to you to decide.

4. Butter: If you are using the unsalted butter, go ahead and if you are using the salted butter, then ignore using salt which is given in the ingredients section.

5. Almond Powder: If you don’t have almond powder, take some almonds and soak it in water for one hour or so, remove its skin and pat dry it. Once it is completely dry, power it in a blender.

6. Alcohol: You can use rum / brandy / sherry or so. Non -alcohol users can use orange juice. Soak dry fruits in orange juice for few hours.

7. Soaking Dry Fruits: If you are not soaking your dry fruits in rum / brandy in months advance, soak it in orange juice or overnight before baking it. If you are using rum soaked dry fruits, no need of brushing and feeding your cake with alcohol after baking it. Soaking dry fruits either in alcohol or a substitute like Orange Juice makes the cake moist while baking it. So you should not avoid the step of ‘soaking’.

8. Storage: Wrap your cake in plastic wrapper and then in aluminium foil. Store it in an airtight container after that. Doing so will prevent the cake from drying up. Also it allows the cake to last longer. Do not store cake in metal tins. The alcohol we used to soak dry fruits will react with metal, which gives an off flavour to the fruit cake. Store your fruit cake in dark and cool place of your kitchen. If you are making Fruit cakes in larger volume, refrigerate the rest of the cakes.

9. Butter Paper: Spreading butter paper at the bottom and sides of the cake tin helps the cake from drying up fast. If the top of the cake is dry, don’t worry, it will get soften the next day as you are covering it up with plastic and aluminium wrappers. It helps the dry top crust soften the next day.

10. Cake Tin: Always it is better to use a round cake tin as it spreads temperature uniformly. I prefer the round tins. You could bake it in other tins as well.

11. Baking Time: It will vary depending on the volume of cake you make and the kind of oven you use. The time given here is for making the above said recipe and its volume.

12. Slicing of Fruit Cake: Fruit cakes are dense and not that easy to cut as it consists of lot of dry fruits. So it is better to refrigerate fruit cakes which makes it easier for slicing.

13. Don’t fill the cake batter more than 2/3 of your cake tin.

14. You should not forget to mix your soaked dry fruits with flour which ensures the dry fruits not sinking and settling down at the bottom.

Christmas Fruit Cake is ready now.. 

Few Stage wise images of Christmas Fruit Cake Recipe

Gather all ingredients.

Serve this delicious Plum Cake with your friends and family.. 

Happy Baking..We wish one and all a warm and Merry Christmas.

Bon Appétit

Seenas Food Basket

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ക്രിസ്മസ് ഫ്രൂട്ട് കേക്ക് റെസിപ്പി / കേരള പ്ലം കേക്ക് റെസിപ്പി / Rum Fruit Cake Recipe / Traditional Christmas Fruit Cake / Kerala Christmas Fruit Cake / Kerala Plum Cake Recipe