Curious to try fruitcake? Here’s a not-so-terrible recipe

By Rebekah Ludman

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    12/17/24 (LAPost.com) — Fruitcake may be one of the most traditional Christmas desserts, but it doesn’t have the reputation of being the tastiest. This jolly dessert has been the butt of thousands of jokes for decades in movies, television shows, and books.

Despite the jokes and countless bad reviews, I turned to my sister and asked, “Is it possible to make fruitcake taste good?” Of course, this was a thought inspired by Sabrina Carpenter’s Christmas EP “fruitcake” and Netflix special, “A Nonsense Christmas.” After my sister shrugged her shoulders, I decided it was worth a try. At the very least, I would finally be able to say, “I tried fruitcake, it’s gross.”

Luckily this wasn’t the consensus with my friends and family. Well, at least from what they said to my face.

But before I get to my take on fruitcake and the recipe you can try at home, let’s back this up to when this delicacy first came to America with European colonists. It’s important to note how fruitcake in America is more cakelike than the original version in Europe.

With an increase of cheap sugar – one of the most important ingredients – and rising emigration from Britain, fruitcake quickly became one of the most popular Christmas desserts, according to PBS. The rise in popularity was primarily due to its long shelf life. The sugar in fruitcake served as preservation, which meant it could be gifted through the mail.

Now, fast forward to 2024. The first thing to note is be prepared to spend time in the kitchen when deciding to make this dessert. When it comes to what ingredients you need, every recipe is different. However, they all revolve around some mixture of dried fruits, nuts, and rum. Through hours of research and looking at different recipes, here’s the one I ended up going with (This full recipe can also be found at lapost.com/food/fruitcake-recipe):

2 cups all-purpose flour 1 cup unsalted butter 1 cup dark brown sugar ½ cup dark rum (Note: the stronger the rum, the stronger the taste of your fruitcake will be) ½ cup chopped walnuts ¼ cup chopped dates ¼ cup chopped dried figs ¼ cup chopped dried apricots ¼ cup chopped dried sweetened cherries 4 large eggs 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon ½ teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg ¼ teaspoon ground cloves ¼ teaspoon ground allspice Some other popular optional add-ins are ¼ cup raisins and ¼ cup candied citrus peel, although I opted not to include these. I found all of my ingredients at Target, but most grocery stores should carry them too.

Once you have all your ingredients purchased and chopped (if needed), combine the walnuts, dates, dried figs, dried apricots, and dried sweetened cherries in a large bowl. Pour the dark rum all over. I let this mixture sit in my fridge overnight and stirred it a couple of times. At this point of the process, I was ready to give up. Mainly because chopping dried fruit was a bit more difficult than I had anticipated. If you’re feeling this same way, don’t worry. It’s only easier from here.

When your mixture is nice and ready, preheat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Then, grease a pan – I used an 8×8 inch one – and flour it. In a new bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, baking soda, salt, ground nutmeg, ground cloves, and ground allspice.

In a separate mixing bowl, cream the unsalted butter (softened), and dark brown sugar until it’s fluffy. Add the eggs in one at a time. Now, this is where it starts to all come together. Take your bowl of mixed dry ingredients and your rum-soaked fruit mixture bowl and slowly add them into your creamed mixture. Alternate between the dry and rum-soaked ingredients until everything is combined.

You now officially have fruitcake batter. Pour it evenly into your greased cake pan and bake it for approximately 95 minutes. In case you need a frame of reference, you can listen to Sabrina Carpenter’s “fruitcake” EP approximately six times, like I did. Some recipes say it can take as long as 120 minutes to bake all the way through, so make sure you check on it regularly. Just poke a toothpick through and see if it comes through clean, that’s when you’ll know it’s ready. However, if you notice your cake starts to brown too quickly, it’s recommended to loosely cover your fruitcake with aluminum foil in the last 30 minutes of baking.

Let your fruitcake cool for roughly 15 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a wire rack (preferably), or in my case, a plate to fully cool down. It’s recommended to wrap your fruitcake in plastic wrap and leave it for a few days before eating it to allow for a better taste. I, however, was impatient and cut it open immediately.

Of course, the first person I gave a slice to was my sister. I then asked her again “Is it possible to make fruitcake taste good?” to which she replied, “it’s not bad, I’d eat it if I had to.” Luckily, she was my biggest critic. All of my other family and friends who I basically forced into trying my version of a fruitcake said it was pretty good and opted for seconds.

Honestly, this was overall a fun experience for me. But I don’t think I’ll make it for Christmas Day this year, mostly because I’ll still be wrapping presents. If you try this recipe and hate it, well, please don’t look at the byline. If you love it, post pictures of your fruitcake and tag us on Instagram @lapost_official.

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Rebekah Ludman
rebekah@lapost.com
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