Christmas Fruit and Nut Cake is a super delicious cake, loaded with dry fruits and nuts that will be loved by people of all age groups.
I have prepared this cake in a bundt pan. The dry fruits are soaked in wine for about a week before preparing this cake. This way you can enjoy a burst of holiday flavors with every bite of the cake. To make this cake healthier I have used a combination of vegetable shortening and butter. If you prefer you may replace vegetable shortening with butter, but I really could not make any difference in the taste by reducing the amount of butter in the recipe. You can vary the fruits and nuts as per your taste.
I received all the best compliments for this cake from my family and colleagues. Yeah!
Preparation time : 10 minutes + 70 minutes baking
Serves : 1 large bundt-style cake
Ingredients for Christmas Fruit and Nut Cake
Dried cranberries - ⅓ cup
Black raisins - ⅓ cup
Golden raisins - ⅓ cup
Dates - ⅓ cup
Wine - ½ cup
Butter unsalted - ½ cup ( 1 stick / 8 tablespoon at room temperature)
Vegetable shortening - ½ cup
Brown sugar - ¾ cup
Molasses - ½ cup
Milk - ¾ cup
Baking powder - 2 tsp
Orange zest - 1 ½ tbsp
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Eggs - 3
All purpose flour - 3 ½ cup
Orange juice - ¼ cup
Sliced almonds - ½ cup
Cashew chopped - ½ cup
Steps to prepare Christmas Fruit and Nut Cake
Step I
- One week before baking, mix together the cranberries, black and golden raisins, dates in bowl. Pour 1 cup of wine. Cover it and refrigerate. ( ½ cup of wine mentioned in the recipe is the one that is drained off from the soaked fruits)
Step II
- Preheat the oven to 325 degree F. Grease bundt pan with butter or shortening.
- Dry roast the almonds and cashews till you get a nice aroma. Keep this aside.
Step III
- In a bowl, add butter, sugar, molasses, salt and beat together till it becomes light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs and beat it one at time.
- Now add wine, baking powder, vanilla extract, orange juice, orange zest, milk and stir it.
- Add the all purpose flour and stir again. Do not over mix.
- Fold in the soaked dry fruits, roasted nuts.
Step III
- Spoon the batter into lightly greased pan.
- Bake for 50 to 70 minutes or until its done. Knife inserted comes out clean. Baking time may vary depending on the size of your pan.
- Let it cool down for at least 10 minutes even before you flip from the pan.
- Christmas fruit and nut cake is ready. Serve and enjoy. Merry Christmas and happy holidays!
Tip:
- I have used moscato wine in my recipe.
- You can brush them with liqueur of your choice just before serving.
- Once it cools down completely, wrap them in foil or store in sealed container.
Vicky & Ruth- May I Have That Recipe
I love this cake! Cakes with dried fruit are my favorite...thank you for sharing! Happy Holidays!
Kushi
Thank you and same to you 🙂
Dawn @ Words Of Deliciousness
I am a fan of fruit and nut cakes during the holidays. I like that you soak the fruit and nuts in the wine for a week before baking this. I am sure that the flavor is wonderful!
Kushi
Thank you so much Dawn 🙂
Moumita Malla
So perfectly made fruit cake..really we cant imagine Christmas without a fruit cake...Happy Christmas dear
Kushi
Thank you Moumita 🙂
marudhuskitchen
super perfect cake recipe...dear
Kushi
Thank you Vani 🙂
Sundari
Yummy cake!! Perfectly made!!
Kushi
Thank you Sundari 🙂
Nava Krishnan
Compliments from me as well. Nice.
Kushi
Thank you Nava 🙂
Revathi Palani
I made my first bundt cake only a couple weeks back but I became an immediate fan. This bundt cake looks fabulous and I guess it is super delicious with the fruits and nuts. I am sure going to try it sometime soon 🙂
Kushi
Thank you Revathi 🙂
Jyothi - Currytrail.in
Looks lovely Kushi, I made my rich fruit cake today as well 😀
Kushi
Thank you Jyothi 🙂
Traditionallymodernfood
Love ur version..looks delicious can I have a slice
Kushi
Thank you Vidya 🙂
CHCooks
Awesome.. the cake looks absolutely Christmas-y 🙂
Kushi
Thank you dear 🙂
Bindu
What we can used instead of wine
Kushi
You can simply skip wine. If you want you can pre-soak dried fruits in grape/apple juice.
komal
great receipe mam
just want to knw what is molasses
nd is there any substitution of eggs.
Kushi
Thank you Komal. It's a viscous by product of sugarcane. If it is difficult to find replace it with honey or increase the amount of brown sugar. I have not tried substituting egg in this recipe but generally when I do a eggless version, I increase baking powder and milk and add mashed banana. Let me know if you need any help.