This dried fruit and nut cake is chock-full of crunchy nuts and moist dried fruit. A holiday favorite.
Dried Fruit and Nut Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C). Spray the loaf pans (either one 9-by-5-inch 8-cup loaf pan or two 8-by-4-inch 4-cup loaf pans) with vegetable oil spray or line the bottom and sides with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk the flour with the baking soda, baking powder, and salt to combine. Add the brown sugar, all the dried fruit, and the nuts and mix thoroughly with your fingers. Set aside.
In a small bowl, beat the eggs with the vanilla until light. Pour the egg mixture over the dry ingredients and mix well with a wooden spoon or your hands until all the fruits and nuts are coated with batter. Scrape into the prepared pans.
Bake until the top is deep golden brown and the batter clinging to the fruit seems set, about 1 hour for smaller loaves, 10 to 15 minutes longer for a large loaf. Tent loosely with foil if the cake appears to be browning too much. Cool completely in the pans on a rack.
When completely cool, remove the cake from the pans. The cake keeps, wrapped airtight in foil or plastic wrap, for several weeks at room temperature or at least 3 months in the refrigerator. It. can also be frozen for at least 6 months.
To serve, cut into thin slices with a sharp heavy knife.
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Delicious healthy cake. It’s very dense due to the dried fruits but not like traditional fruit cake. I cut the sugar to 1/3 cup and added homemade candied pomelo strips and candied ginger. Will make more!
Thanks, Shirley! It’s helpful to know that it still tastes great with less sugar and we’re so pleased that you’ve found a ‘keeper’! Appreciate you taking the time to let us know.
One more mention: I just used a prepackaged bag of dried fruit/nut mix (about 3 cups of unsweetened dried apples, figs, prunes, raisins, plums, blueberries and almonds) and added 2 cups of unsalted nut mix.
That’s great. Thanks for letting us know, Shirley.
Can I use whole wheat flour for this recipe?
Valeria, we haven’t tried it with whole wheat flour, so we can’t say how it would turn out. I’d recommend starting out by swapping in whole wheat flour for half of the all-purpose, and see how it turns out.
Yummy! I can’t wait to make this! What a great recipe! I got a bag as a gift of fruit and nut mix, which was a pretty hefty bag and thought what can I do with all of this? You can only eat so much oatmeal you know! Lol thank you for sharing this recipe and thank you everyone for posting all your great comments! I’ll have to let you know how it goes! Thanks again!
Thanks, Carlisia! We can’t wait to hear how it turns out.
I made this and it smells great…hope it tastes as good as it smells…
Nova, me, too!
This was absolutely delicious…and so easy !!!
I just made another two with leftover ingredients from the holiday season.
How wonderful Nova! Thanks so much for letting us know.
I cant wait to try this out. Looks delicious and tasty.
And we can’t wait to hear what you think of it, Georgina!
Actually it’s really tasty and delicious. I’ve done this at home. It’s really perfect to a party that we had last time. Most of my friends commend me about this recipe. Thanks so much.
You’re so very welcome, Georgina! Thanks so much for taking the time to let us know!
Looks delish! Cannot wait to try it out.
This is a favorite recipe of mine. It takes 5 minutes to put together but tastes like it requires more effort. I usually use any dried fruit and nut mix that I find in the bulk section. The mixes that include brazil nuts and dried pineapple make the prettiest slices. I serve these in very thin slices as part of a cookie/sweets tray or with a nutty firm cheese such as Manchego.