How to Make a Simple Fruit Cake

Use any combination of dried fruits and nuts for your fruitcake.

Fruitcake has received a bad reputation as a dense, unsavory and unwanted gift for the holidays. Consider baking your own. Homemade fruitcake is delicious, inexpensive, easy to make and adaptable to suit your tastes. You can substitute the pecans and dried fruits with the nuts and fruits of your choice.

Things You'll Need

• 9-by-5-inch loaf pan
• Cooking spray
• Parchment paper
• 3/4 cup unbleached flour
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• Fork
• 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 3 cups roughly chopped pecans
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup chopped dried apricots
• 1 cup chopped dried apple
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• Toothpick
• Baking rack

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Grease the loaf pan with cooking spray and line it with parchment paper.

2. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl and mix it with a fork.

3. Add brown sugar, pecans, apricots, apples and raisins to the dry ingredients and mix.

4. Beat your eggs and vanilla together in a small bowl until foamy and pale yellow.

5. Pour your eggs and vanilla over the dry ingredients and mix everything together with your hands.

6. Scrape the batter into the loaf pan with a spatula.

7. Place your loaf pan on the center rack of the oven and bake until the top is brown. Insert a toothpick into the loaf's center; if it comes out clean, it's done.

8. Remove your loaf pan from the oven and let it sit for 15 minutes. Flip the pan over on the baking rack to remove the fruitcake. Peel away the parchment paper, turn the fruitcake back over and let it cool before serving.

Tips & Warnings

• If the top of your fruitcake is brown but the batter still sticks to the toothpick, cover the loaf pan with foil to prevent burning the top.

References

• "The Joy of Cooking"; Rombauer, Irma. Rombauer-Becker, Marion. Becker, Ethan; 1997