Brandy Aged Fruitcake
Brandy Aged Fruitcake is so rich & delicious. Brandy softens the fruit and mellows the cake part of the fruitcake and it acts as a preservative. You’ll become a fruitcake convert.
Why do American’s hate fruitcake?
I get it, really. The fruitcakes that you find in the grocery and the big box stores are gross. I don’t know what the green things are in those cakes, and I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know.
I’m not surprised so many Americans think they hate fruitcake, even if they’ve never tasted it.
With this recipe, I’m on a mission to change as many American minds about fruitcake as I can.
Ingredients for making Aged Fruitcake:
Fruit & Nuts:
Cake Batter:
Ingredient notes:
- Dried Fruits: Use the best quality dried fruits and nuts for this cake. Candied orange peel and candied cherries can be found in the grocery store starting in the fall, but they are also available on-line.
- Alcohol: The alcohol is key to the flavor, texture and preserving for this cake. I prefer a high abv slightly sweet alcohol like brandy or rum. You can also use whiskey or bourbon. Don’t use lower abv liquid like wine for aging, you need the higher alcohol as a preservative.
- Brown sugar: This is a “dark” fruitcake which includes brown sugar rather than white sugar. Light or dark brown sugar is fine.
Scroll through the process photos and watch the video to see how to make, age and finish a traditional Christmas fruitcake:
- Mix the dried fruits and nuts with lemon zest, juice and brandy.
- Cover and set aside for at least 12 hours or up to 2 days.
- Add the eggs to the butter and sugar.
- Add the flour.
- Add the soaked fruit.
- Mix to combine then spread into the cake pan.
FAQs about making traditional aged fruitcake:
The alcohol moistens the cake and fruit, flavors the cake and acts as a preservative. It’s hard for bacteria to live in a high alcohol/low moisture cake.
I like to use brandy, but you can also use whiskey, bourbon, sherry or rum instead.
The liquor not only softens the fruit part of the fruitcake, it also softens and mellows the cake part of the fruitcake and keeps the cake from spoiling. There is no good substitute for the liquor in this recipe.
As the name Brand-Aged Fruitcake, implies, this recipe needs to be made several weeks, or even several months, before you want to serve it. I usually bake my fruitcakes by mid-October so they’re well-aged by Christmas.
The cake can be finished with a layer of marzipan and a layer of fondant or royal icing. But you don’t need to decorate the cakes at all. Fruitcake can certainly be served without any icing or marzipan.
Once the cake is aged, it can keep at room temperature for several months. Keep the cake wrapped in plastic and in a closed container like a cake tin. Once a week brush any cut edges or un-iced parts of the cake with more of the liquor used for aging.
Watch this video to see how to cover a cake with rolled fondant.
You’ll also love this Almond Filled Stollen on your holiday menu.
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Brandy-Aged Fruitcake Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ½ oz almonds (½ cup coarsely ground)
- 3 oz walnuts (1 cup chopped)
- 12 oz dark raisins (2 ¼ cups)
- 8 oz light raisins (1 ⅓ cups)
- 3 oz candied orange peel (⅓ cup)
- 3 oz candied cherries (⅓ cup)
- 6 oz zante currants (1 cup)
- 1 lemon (grated zest juice)
- 6 oz brandy (⅔ cup (plus more for aging, see note))
- 7 ½ oz all purpose flour (1 ½ cups, see note)
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ginger
- ½ teaspoon table salt
- 6 oz unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 6 oz brown sugar (¾ cup)
- 4 large eggs (room temperature)
Decoration (optional)
- 8 oz apricot preserves (1 cup)
- 1 recipe marzipan
- 1 recipe rolled fondant
- recipe Royal Icing
- Marzipan holly and silver dragees for decoration
Instructions
- Combine 1 ½ oz almonds, 3 oz walnuts, 12 oz dark raisins, 8 oz light raisins, 3 oz candied orange peel, 3 oz candied cherries, 6 oz zante currants, with the zest and juice of 1 lemon. Add 6 oz brandy and toss to coat the fruit and nuts with the liquor. Cover the bowl and let it sit overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Line a 9"x 3" cake pan with a parchment round. (see note)
- Sift together 7 ½ oz all purpose flour, 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ½ teaspoon nutmeg, ½ teaspoon ginger and ½ teaspoon table salt. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream 6 oz unsalted butter and 6 oz brown sugar until light and aerated. Scrape down the bowl and the beater. Add 4 large eggs, two at a time. Mix until combined then scrape down the bowl and the beater.
- With the mixer running on low speed, add the dry ingredients in 3 batches and mix until combined. Fold in the soaked fruit and all the liquid.
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and spread it out to an even layer. Bake until a toothpick poked in the center of the cake comes out clean, about 55 minutes. As soon as the pan is removed from the oven pour ¼ cup of brandy over the top of the cake.
- Cool the cake to room temperature before removing from the pan. Wrap the cake in two layers of plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature.
- Once a week for at least 4 weeks, unwrap the cake and generously brush on all sides with more brandy. The cake can be served as is or you can ice and decorate the cake with marzipan and fondant.
Ice & Decorate the cake (optional)
- Unwrap the cake. Glue the cake to a cardboard cake circle using a dab of royal icing. Trim the cake cardboard to the same size as the cake. Place on another cardboard circle or serving plate.
- To finish with Royal Icing: Make a batch of fluffy royal icing. Ice the top of the cake with thick swirls of icing to resemble snow. Decorate with marzipan or fondant holly or other edible decorations. Wrap a wide ribbon around the sides of the cake.
- To finish with Rolled Fondant: Ice the cake with apricot preserves. Roll the marzipan to a 14" round. Roll the marzipan onto the rolling pin then transfer and unroll onto the cake. Trim the marzipan flush with the bottom of the cake and board. Brush the marzipan with brandy.
- Roll the fondant to a 14″ round and cover the cake over the marzipan. Trim the fondant flush with the bottom of the cake and board.
- Add dragees, stencils, glitter and marzipan holly or other decorations as you like.
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Hi Eileen,
I am going to make this for the 2020 season. I’m wondering if I can use any dried fruits (pineapples, apples, etc.). And, could I drizzle with royal icing? I will be making a few and this will would be a quick assembly decoration.
Thanks so much!!
Any mix of dried fruit should work. Royal icing drizzle would be fine.
Eileen, I’ve been wanting to make a fruitcake forever and finally used your recipe. It was wonderful. My only problem was my pan: it was niine inches but too shallow. I’ll correct that next time. Also, I didn’t give enough attention to the edges and they were a bit dry. I’ll double down the saturation around the edges. My marzipan was perfect and I should know cause I love it so. My husband was so impressed.
Thanks for your recipe and clear instructions. Anyone can mAke a masterpiece with this.
Thanks Judy. We still have two small fruitcakes left from the holidays. They’ll keep for months in a tin until we’re ready to indulge again.
Eileen can you tell me why is the top part of my fruitcake kinda sticky look after putting the whiskey or brandy? Thank you.
Yes, it just takes time to soak into the cake. The cake and the dried fruit will continue to absorb the liquor.
I just love the first recipe, what a hoot! That’s how I like to bake! Goes right along with how I make lasagna…you start with two bottles of wine, one for the cook and about half for the sauce, and darn the cook has to finish off that bottle of wine!,
I love the funny recipe too! But do try the real recipe at the end of the post. It’s so good.
I started this at the end September and I brush with brandy once a week. My cake is getting heavy and starting to try and crack, it is VERY moist. Have I over done it with the brandy or is this how it is supposed to be? This Is my first time ever doing one, so I feel like I might be doing it wrong. It smells great and I really want to cut into it, but I will wait until Christmas week. Thanks for the great recipe.
Did you bake the cake in a 9″ pan? I’ve never had a problem with a cake cracking. You can try to give it a couple of weeks without the brandy and see if it settles down. The cake will be quite heavy by the time it’s ready. Also, try flipping the cake over each week to even out the moisture.
I will try this, thank you. I did bake it in a 9″ springform pan. It’s not a huge crack, it might even be me handling it wrong (from me picking it up and flipping it).
Also, if you’re planning to cover the cake with marzipan and fondant, any cracks or lumpy bits can be evened out with apricot preserves before covering the cake.
Eileen, I’m having the same problem with cracking. I used a 9″ pan but I don’t think it was deep enough. Unlike Ashley, I had a tiny bite last week and it’s delicious. Where does all that brandy go? And what’s the limit to try to brush on. I’ve been brushing on 1/4 cup each week cause that was the initial amount in the recipe. So far, the cake has absorbed it all but it’s very heavy.
By the way, I wasn’t sure which of your recipes to use so I purchased 2 bottles of brandy just in case.
All that brandy goes into the dried fruit and nuts and into the cake itself. If you feel it’s getting too much brandy take a break for a week or two. Yes, the cake will be very heavy. Even heavier if you cover it with marzipan and fondant.