Holiday fruitcake… there seem to be two camps: those that love it… and those that love to hate it! Ok, maybe there’s a third camp too: those who’ve never tasted it. Which camp are you in?
By Audrey, Unconventional Baker.
Ok, you might say I killed the fruitcake by omitting the cherries. Glace cherries are after all a huge part of the appeal of a traditional fruitcake, but for me including them wasn’t a debatable point — sulphites (abundant in the commercial varieties) and I just don’t get along. Not negotiable. You know what though? Honestly, it turns out fruitcake doesn’t need them. And in fact there are so many traditional ways to make this dessert around the world and many don’t involve cherries at all. Instead, those recipes play up the other flavors.
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Here’s the trick anyhow: if you strip down glace cherries to their main flavor (you’ll have to “strip” far to get past all the glucose, fructose, colors, preservatives, artificial flavors, etc…), it’s really just almond extract (for the red ones) and peppermint extract (for the green ones). And since this particular fruitcake recipe incorporates almond extract anyhow, that flavor is covered.
That said, if you must include them (because I imagine for some it would be a holiday must — I get it, trust me!), then just fold some into the cake “batter” near the end.
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That said, if you must include them (because I imagine for some it would be a holiday must — I get it, trust me!), then just fold some into the cake “batter” near the end.
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Ingredients
Cake:
- 1 cup pitted dates, soaked in hot water for at least 1 hour, then strained (discard the water)
- 2 cups raisins
- 1 ¾ cups almond meal*
- ¼ cup hazelnut meal*
- ¼ cup brazil nut meal*
- ½ cup fruit-sweetened orange marmalade (I used St. Dalfour)
- ½ cup diced dried prunes
- ¼ cup pine nuts
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp allspice
- ½ tsp almond extract
Optional Toppings:
- dried coconut milk powder for dusting, date syrup (or coconut syrup) for caramel sauce drizzle, extra pine nuts for garnish
Instructions
- Process all cake ingredients together in a food processor into a sticky uniform mixture (it should have a bit of a crumb to it — careful not to over-process into a paste).
- Line a small bread loaf (or a dish of a similar size — the one I used here is roughly 4″ x 6″) with parchment paper. Transfer the prepared cake mixture into the pan and press down with the back of a spoon so that it molds to the shape of the pan. Cover with another piece of parchment paper and press down some more with a flat-bottomed object (like another container) to compact the cake into the pan as much as possible.
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- Freeze overnight (or for at least 6 hours) to set.
- When ready to serve, remove from pan, dust with coconut milk, drizzle with caramel syrup, and garnish to your liking. Thaw out on the counter slightly (10 mins or so), slice and serve. Store leftovers in the freezer.
