Mary’s Traditional Moist Fruitcake with Candied Fruit and Brandy
Fruitcake is a longstanding tradition. This recipe is my mother’s and she had to hide the end result on the top of the refrigerator to keep us from demolishing it before Christmas day.
Holiday Favorites: Mary’s Fruitcake
Ingredients
Fruit mixture
- 1 pound candied fruit and peel mix
- ¼ cup honey
- ½ cup brandy, orange-flavored liqueur or white wine
Optional
- ¼ cup raisins
- ¼ cup chopped dates
Cake
- 3 tablespoons flour and 2 tablespoons unsalted butter to prepare
- Bundt pan
- 2½ cups flour
- 2½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- A pinch of ground cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and ginger
- 8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 1½ cups sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs
- ¼ cup frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
- 8 ounces whole unsalted pecans or walnuts
Basting syrup
- ½ cup light corn syrup
- ½ cup brandy or orange-flavored liqueur
Instructions
- Place the candied fruit and any of the optional dried fruit in a bowl. Add the honey and brandy, liqueur or white wine. Cover with plastic food wrap and let sit at room temperature overnight.
- The next day, prepare the cake batter and make the fruitcake. Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Butter and flour the inside a 12-cup Bundt pan. Shake pan over the sink to remove excess flour. Set aside while preparing the batter.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and spices. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugar and vanilla. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. With mixer on medium-low, slowly add the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined. Add the fruit mixture, orange juice and nuts. Mix until combined. Transfer mixture to the prepared pan.
- Bake the fruitcake for approximately 90 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the loaf comes out clean. While the fruit cake is baking, prepare the basting syrup. In a bowl, combine the corn syrup and liqueur.
- Remove fruitcake from oven and let cool for 10 minutes on a cooling rack. Remove fruitcake from pan and place on a wire cooling rack. Baste the cake with some of the syrup. Wrap the fruitcake in parchment paper then foil. Let sit at room temperature for at least 2 weeks, basting the cake daily until the syrup is gone. When basting the cake, make sure the syrup is absorbed before rewrapping with the parchment and foil. I usually let it absorb for a good hour before rewrapping.
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