Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A
Lighter Fruit cake recipe
Hello, does anybody have a recipe for a fruit cake that would be good for a birthday cake. I’d like something not so rich and dark as a Christmas cake and wondered if a Dundee cake recipe would work with marzipan and fondant instead of the traditional almond decoration on top? Thanks guys.
PS – I forgot to mention it must be alcohol free so if anyone can suggest what I could used instead of brandy or whiskey that would be a great help.
Hi there,
There is a cake by Mrs Jones — fruit cake – it’s delicious. It’s in the online Courses section.
Instead of alcohol, I suppose you could use cold tea to soak the fruit perhaps? Just a little though!
Hi Jude3011
I love this recipe for a light fruit cake, the ingredients are for a 8″ deep round cake pan.
100g glacé cherries
50g blanched almonds
50g mixed candied peel
75g dried cranberries (optional)
500g mixed dried fruit (sultanas, raisins and currants)
Grated zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange
275g strong white bread flour
50g ground almonds
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
225g soft butter
150g golden caster sugar
75g golden syrup/ light corn syrup
3 large eggs
2 tbsp brandy or milk
Cook for 1 hour 40 mins on 150, hope that helps 🙂
Hi Sharon54
Mrs Jones’ fruit cake is practically a rich fruit cake, it contains over a kilo of fruit and will have very good keeping qualities, a good couple of months. I don’t know when you want it for but you can bake now, cool completely in the baking tin, wrap it up very well and freeze it. Take out of the freezer two or three days in advance of decorating. Freezing will also add extra moisture to the cake. x
Hi Sharon54
I haven’t tried the fruit cake but I can just see by the ingredients that it will be a keeper. My rich fruit Christmas cake uses less fruit and I bake that up months in advance so it matures and smells like a distillery! I love her Victoria sponge recipe and have no doubts that her fruit will be equally as good.
You can use orange juice or apple juice instead of the alcohol!
Just wanted to let you all know, Mrs Jones fruit cake was a complete success. I made it for a 90th birthday, I soaked the fruit overnight in cold tea! and everybody said how delicious it was. So much so, I’ve been asked to make the same cake for Christmas by 2 family members. Thank you all for your input and if you haven’t yet tried this cake you really must. Thanks guys x
