Last updated on: By KayleneFiled Under: , Recipes10 Comments
Packed with plump, juicy fruit and sweetened with pumpkin and apricot nectar this Pumpkin Fruit Cake is a luscious snack cake that is almost irresistible!
These days most people can be placed into one of two categories; fruit cake lovers or fruit cake haters. I myself am very much a fruit cake lover! I grew up eating fruit cake as a regular afterschool snack and in my family Christmas just would not be Christmas without a traditional Christmas fruit cake!
Speaking of Christmas cakes, if you want a great Christmas cake recipe check out this Easy Mix Christmas Cake recipe that I shared a couple of years ago. I usually make this Christmas cake a few weeks before Christmas so that it is really rich and moist by Christmas day!
If however you don’t want to wait a few weeks to get a moist and tasty fruit cake then you need to try this pumpkin fruit cake. I came across this recipe on a packet of Sunbeam mixed fruit that I had in the pantry and decided to give it a try (see the original recipe here).
We still have one of our butternut pumpkins from our autumn harvest so I thought this would be great opportunity to try using it in a sweet pumpkin recipe. The only modification that I made to the recipe was to change the shape of the baking tin. The original recipe suggested using a 20cm round tin but I wanted to be able to cut it up into small slices so I chose the rectangular slice tin instead.As a result the fruit cake is not quite as high but it does cook quicker!
So if you can’t wait till Christmas to have a delicious slice of moist fruit cake then I can highly recommend you make this Pumpkin Fruit Cake!
Packed with plump, juicy fruit and sweetened with pumpkin and apricot nectar this Pumpkin Fruit Cake is a luscious snack cake that is almost irresistible!
Place mixed fruit, brown sugar, golden syrup, butter, and apricot nectar into a large saucepan and stir it continuously over a medium heat until the mixture comes to the boil.
Once boiling, reduce the heat and allow the mixture to simmer gently for 10 minutes as you continue stirring.
After 10 minutes remove from heat and add the baking soda. Stir the mixture thoroughly and allow it to cool.
While mixture is cooling preheat oven to 160 °C (320 °F) and grease and line a 20cm x 30cm (8 x 12 inch) rectangular slice tin.
Once cooled (saucepan is just warm to the touch) add eggs and pumpkin and beat with wooden spoon until smooth.
Add flours and mix well to combine.
Place mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 40 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Allow to cool completely in tin before slicing and serving.
Notes
* 300g of raw, peeled pumpkin was enough to give me one cup of cooked mashed pumpkin
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In order to ensure your fruitcake tastes fresh, Southern Living suggests leaving your dried fruit to soak in a flavorful liquid like rum or apple juice for a minimum of 24 hours. However, the longer you allow the ingredient to soak, the more moist your cake will be.
Christmas cakes are also commonly made with pudding while a fruit cake uses butter, however there are Christmas cake recipes that do contain butter. The traditional Scottish Christmas cake, also known as the Whisky Dundee, is very popular. It is a light crumbly cake with currants, raisins, cherries and Scotch whisky.
If you find that your pumpkin cake is too moist, isn't holding it's shape and is gummy in certain areas, it's usually caused by too much liquid in your recipe.
If the cakes are too moist, remove them from the container and all wrapping.Allow them to stand at room temperature for 24 hours, then rewrap in plastic wrap and freeze. Do not continue seasoning. Dark cakes usually take 4 to 6 weeks to season; light cakes usually take 3 to 4 weeks to season.
What alcohol should you use? Strong, flavourful spirits with a high ABV are ideal for feeding fruitcakes. You can use rum, brandy or whisky for spice, or if you like citrus flavours, try an orange liqueur. Cherry brandy and amaretto will also work well if you prefer these.
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.
Fruitcake aficionados will tell you that the best fruit cakes are matured – or “seasoned” in fruitcake lingo – for at least three months before they are cut. Seasoning not only improves the flavor of the fruitcake, but it makes it easier to slice.
Is figgy pudding the same as fruit cake? No. Traditional figgy pudding is a British dish that is more like a bread pudding that may or may not include dried fruit like raisins. So although there are similarities for sure, they are not the same thing.
Instead of using premixed pumpkin pie spice (which has probably been sitting around for months on a grocery store shelf), make your own by combining cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice.
If you've baked a cake before you're probably familiar with the "toothpick test." Many recipes tell you to stick a cake tester, skewer, or toothpick into the middle of the cake and if it comes out clean, the cake is done.
This can happen for a variety of reasons ranging from type of flour, not enough eggs/wrong size eggs, not enough liquid or fats and even storage. 'Causes of crumbly fruit cake'.
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.
Unfortunately once a cake has cooled it is not possible to re-bake it. The cake would have to heat all the way through again and the outside parts of the cake would become too dry. Also if the cake has sunk in the centre from being underbaked it will not rise again as the raising agents in the recipe will have expired.
If the fruit looked too depleted and/or excessively absorbed, you would need to "feed it" with alcohol throughout the year to replenish. To make the perfect black cake, the fruit needs to be very soft so soaking the fruit is a must.
For making Christmas fruit cake and plum cake, fruits should be soaked in alcoholic beverage for atleast one week and can be stored for a few weeks or months. It is ideal to leave the fruits soaking for 4-5 weeks before baking rich fruit cake.
The best way to avoid sinking fruit is to toss the fruit in a couple of tablespoons of the flour (just use some from the measured amount for the recipe) to coat it lightly. Once added to the cake mixture the flour coating will thicken the batter immediately surrounding the fruit and help suspend the fruit.
Introduction: My name is Lakeisha Bayer VM, I am a brainy, kind, enchanting, healthy, lovely, clean, witty person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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