There’s no two ways about it: fruitcake is a food foul. It’s horrendous. I wouldn’t be surprised if the origin of fruitcake could be traced back to the devil himself.
I hate fruitcake.
So I made a fruitcake. Ha!
But this is not the gummy brick-shaped lump of clay served by Satan’s kitchen staff. This is an old family recipe that turns the curse of the fruitcake on its bumble and sets things right in the world again.
Introducing the… Not a Fruitcake Fruitcake.
Here’s my recipe for a holiday dessert so good that it’s a shame it has the word fruitcake in its name!
Not A Fruitcake Fruitcake Recipe
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup milk
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup jam I used red plum
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ⅓ cup raisins
- ⅓ cup dried cherries
- ⅓ cup chopped dates
- ⅓ cup dried cranberries
- 1 Tbsp flour
- 2 cups flour
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
Topping
- 10 pineapple rings 1 large can
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 ½ cup sugar
- 2 cups milk
- 3 eggs
- 2 Tbsp flour
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 cup coconut
- 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp cloves
- 5 maraschino cherries
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 2 round layer cake pan, but nonstick pans are preferable for this recipe.
- In small bowl toss dried fruits with 1Tbsp flour; set aside.
- Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs; beat until smooth.
- Add jam, milk and vanilla; beat until smooth.
- In separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add to wet ingredients. Beat on medium speed until smooth.
- Fold in dried fruit mix.
- Pour equally into two round cake layer pans.
- Bake 30-40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool in pans for 10 minutes; remove from pans onto cooling rack to cool completely.
Topping
- Lay out pineapple slices onto foil-covered baking sheet. Sprinkle with brown sugar and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove from oven; set aside.
- In large bowl, combine coconut, pecans and raisins; set aside.
- Blend sugar, flour and eggs in a mixer and then cook over medium heat until mixture reaches a boil, stirring constantly.
- Remove from heat and whisk in the cinnamon and cloves. Stir in the coconut, pecans and raisins.
- Spread a thin layer of the mixture on the top of one cake layer, and then 5 pineapple slices. Lay other cake layer on top and spread remaining topping over entire cake. (The finer the nuts are chopped, the easier it will be to spread.)
- Decorate the cake top with the five remaining pineapple slices, placing a maraschino cherry into the center of each ring.
- Add a touch of fruit or coconut to center of cake, if desired.