White Fruitcake Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why is my fruitcake dry and crumbly? ›

Cakes crumble because they've dried out too much. From years of baking, I know that dry cakes happen for one of two reasons; using too much of your dry ingredients or over-baking your cake.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says that fruitcake will last two to three months in the refrigerator without spoiling, and will maintain its quality if stored up to a year in the freezer. But it's a federal agency's job to think of the worst-case scenario.

For a rich and delicious fruit cake and plum cake, it is a must to pre-soak fruits. Like many traditions and family recipes, this process of preparing fruit for Christmas cake is different in each household. It also depends on the cake recipe and how are fruits & spices incorporated into it.

Dark fruitcake is made with brown sugar and molasses, while white fruitcake is made with granulated or confectioners' sugar. This means it's lighter and sweeter than its darker, deeper counterpart.

If the cakes have not moistened and become uniformly heavy in two weeks, apply more liquor or fruit juice, wrap in clean cheesecloth and plastic wrap and put back into your airtight container. Repeat this until they are moist and heavy.

Wrap it in several layers of cheesecloth and saturate the cheesecloth with rum or brandy. Place in a sealed container or zip bag. If the cloth starts to dry out, add more booze. Your fruitcake should be ready to eat in 7–10 days but it will keep for many weeks when properly aged in alcohol.

The trifecta of sugar, low moisture ingredients and some high-proof spirits make fruitcakes some of the longest-lasting foods in the world.

For best quality, a fruit cake that is tightly wrapped with aluminum foil or saran warp can be stored for up to 1 month in a cool, dark pantry, 6 months in the refrigerator, and 12 months in a freezer. Check often for signs of spoilage, and if mold or off-odors develop, discard the cake.

Other good choices of booze include brandy, rum, or whiskey. Feel free to use one or a mix of these to best complement your fruitcake. Once you've chosen the liquor, bake the cake, poke holes throughout the whole thing, and pour a few tablespoons of the alcohol over it. Or, you can brush the cake with the alcohol.

Have you ever had fresh or dried fruit sink to the bottom of a cake or loaf? Don't worry, it's a common problem and generally happens when the cake batter isn't heavy or thick enough to hold the weight of the fruit as it bakes.

Why do you soak fruitcake in alcohol? ›

1. Flavor Enhancement: Soaking fruits in alcohol imparts a rich, deep flavor to the fruits. The alcohol helps to infuse the fruits with its unique taste, creating a distinctive flavor profile in the fruitcake.

Its flavour, on the other hand, is predominantly sweet, citrusy, and slightly spicy. Forbidden Fruit Cake regularly produces between 24 and 27% of THC and high concentrations of the terpenes limonene, caryophyllene, and myrcene.

Like a fine wine, a well-made fruitcake can actually get more flavorful over time. Tannins ooze out of the dried fruit, chemically changing the cake's composition to produce a fruity and spicy taste.

Some fruitcakes are dark because of the types of fruits that are baked in them. Fruits like currants tend to be darker in color and can give fruitcakes their rich color. Fruitcakes that have alcohol baked into them can also become darker in color depending on the type of alcohol used during the baking process.

The most common cake soak is simple syrup, equal parts sugar and water cooked until the sugar is dissolved. This added bit of liquid and sweetness help make the cake more moist, and stay moist longer. Professional bakers also use a milk soak, which is milk or cream dabbed onto the cake.

The balance of fruit to cake batter is most likely out of proportion. Too much sugar can make a cake crumble when cut, while too little will make it dense – that's why it's essential to carefully measure the ingredients.

This usually happens because the baker has turned the oven up too high. The key to a moist fruit cake is making sure that you use the correct temperature and don't exceed the cooking time. It's also imperative that you measure out the ingredients correctly.