Light Fruit Cake-  rich, luscious Madeira cake that’s light, fluffy and moist with a wonderful buttery taste studded with dried mixed fruits. It has a delicious and festive blend of flavors that’s perfect for this time of the year!

Happy holidays, everyone!

Every baker always has a must-bake list on Christmas Day. Agree? One of my must-bake item is this lighter version of Christmas Fruit Cake.

If you dislike fruit cake, perhaps you should try this light fruit cake. It will change your mind about your distaste for fruit cake. It is loaded with fruit but it’s not too heavy, not too sweet and makes a lovely snack for a picnic. You can also serve this for breakfast or afternoon tea.

What is Fruit Cake?

To those who aren’t familiar yet with this popular holiday treat, a fruit cake is a cake made with candied or dried fruits and spices, usually soaked in spirits like this Caribbean Black Cake HERE, and are usually served during wedding days or Christmas.

But our version for today is lighter than that and much easier to make!

Light Fruit Cake Ingredients

This fruit cake recipe is basically a Madeira cake – firm yet light and buttery cake usually eaten with tea for breakfast or afternoon snacks in Britain. Then it’s studded with raisins and other dried fruit mixes. As you see, it’s kinda on the denser side, unlike a traditional fruit cake that’s heavier with more booze in the mix.

Below are the ingredients you’ll need to make this holiday cake:

• unsalted butter
• granulated  sugar
• eggs
• all-purpose flour
• baking powder
• salt
• almond flour (may replace with flour)
• milk
• raisins
• chopped mixed dried fruits, candied peel, cherries
• nutmeg
• lime zest
• dark rum (optional)
• almond flavor
• vanilla extract

To make this cake you have to cream the butter and sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy to achieve a good structure. I remember as a teenager, whenever I was making a cake without a mixer, I would cream the butter and sugar until I thought my hands would fall off – it was like running 5 miles. But, I had to achieve the fluffiness by all means.

How Long Does Light Fruit Cake Last?

Though this cake has rum in it, it’s not the same with the old-fashioned fruit cake though which is constantly brushed with alcohol to preserve the cake for ages. Ours here has rum that serves as another hint of flavor and can be optional, especially when serving to kids.

Although this isn’t as boozed-up like the usual fruit cakes, this tasty cake has a great texture for soaking up rum, syrup, and sauces, and it does not get soggy when mixed with the aforementioned ingredients. It also freezes well and a good cake to ice. 

You can double wrap this cake with aluminum foil and freeze for up to 3 months. I would usually make 2 cakes around this time – one to eat right away, and the other one to freeze up.

More Holiday Cake Recipes

• Red Velvet Cake (with video)
• King Cake
• Vanilla Cake
• Coconut Cake (with video)
• Cream Cheese Pound Cake (with video)
• Chocolate Marble Cake
• Italian Cream Cake

How To Make Light Fruit Cake

Pre-heat the oven to 160°C/325°F. Grease and line the cake tin (pan) with baking parchment. Cream together the butter and sugar at a high speed in a stand mixer until it’s fluffy and starting to look white, about 5- 7 minutes. Stir in the eggs one at a time, beating the mixture well between each one and adding a tablespoon of the flour with the last egg to prevent the batter from curdling. Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt into the batter, then add the almond flour. Mix.

Pour in milk a little at a time, then add the dried fruits, nutmeg, lime zest, rum,  almond flavor, and vanilla extract. Stir well until everything is fully combined. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl.

Pour batter into a greased and floured bundt or 10-inch cake pan. Bake at 325 F until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 50–60minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with powder sugar, if desired. Serve with tea and/or whipped cream.

Watch How To Make It

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This post was first published in October 2016 and has been updated with new photos, write up and so as the recipe.

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Light Fruit Cake

Light Fruit Cake-  rich, luscious Madeira cake that's light, fluffy and moist with a wonderful buttery taste studded with dried mixed fruits.  It has a delicious and festive blend of flavors that's perfect for this time of the year!

4.94 from 15 votes

Prep: 20 minutes mins

Cook: 50 minutes mins

British

Servings 10 -12

Ingredients

• ▢ 8 ounce (226.8g) unsalted butter
• ▢ 1 ¼ cup (250g) granulated  sugar
• ▢ 4 large eggs
• ▢ 1 ¾ cups (218.75g) all-purpose flour
• ▢ 2 teaspoons (8g) baking powder
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon (1.25g) salt
• ▢ ½ cup (48g) almond flour (may replace with flour)
• ▢ ¼ cup (60ml) milk
• ▢ ½ cup (75g) raisins
• ▢ 1 ½ cup chopped mixed dried fruits, candied peel, cherries
• ▢ 1 teaspoon (2g) nutmeg
• ▢ 1-2 tablespoons (2g-4g) lime zest
• ▢ 2-3 tablespoons (30g-45g) dark rum , optional
• ▢ 1 teaspoon (4.2g) almond flavor
• ▢ 1 teaspoon (4.2g) vanilla extract

Instructions

• Pre-heat the oven to 160°C/325°F. Grease and line the cake tin (pan) with baking parchment
• Cream together the butter and sugar at a high speed in a stand mixer until it’s fluffy and starting to look white, about 5- 7 minutes.
• Stir in the eggs one at a time, beating the mixture well between each one and adding a tablespoon of the flour with the last egg to prevent the batter from curdling.  Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt into the batter, then add the almond flour. Mix.
• Pour in milk a little at a time, then add the dried fruits, nutmeg, lime zest, rum,  almond flavor and vanilla extract.
• Stir well until everything is fully combined. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl.
• Pour batter into a greased and floured bundt or 10-inch cake pan.
• Bake at 325 F until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 50–60minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
• Transfer to a wire rack. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with powder sugar, if desired. 
• Serve with tea and/or whipped cream.

Tips & Notes:

1. No soaking of fruits required! Replace candied fruits with about a cup of raisins, dried cranberries, prunes or dates. Or also add dried chopped apricots, and/or chopped nuts.
2. Adjust flavoring with what you have on hand.
3. You can leave this cake outside for about a day or two. I usually tightly wrap and freeze until ready to be served. It works out great all the time .
4.  You can omit the rum altogether, if you prefer.
5. Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.

Nutrition Information:

Calories: 605kcal (30%)| Carbohydrates: 88g (29%)| Protein: 8g (16%)| Fat: 26g (40%)| Saturated Fat: 15g (94%)| Cholesterol: 159mg (53%)| Sodium: 367mg (16%)| Potassium: 443mg (13%)| Fiber: 2g (8%)| Sugar: 44g (49%)| Vitamin A: 865IU (17%)| Vitamin C: 1.6mg (2%)| Calcium: 100mg (10%)| Iron: 2.9mg (16%)

Author: Imma

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: British

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