Make the perfect fruitcake with these easy homemade fruitcake recipes and basic “how-to” tips to help you make better fruitcake and avoid common mistakes!
How To Make Homemade Fruitcake – Recipes and Ideas
I have always loved fruitcake – All of those delicious fruit chunks and nuts in the delicious sweet cake! My family hasn’t been as enthusiastic as me so I only had occasional opportunities to indulge in this luscious Christmas dessert!
I know that Fruitcake has a bad reputation with some people! You either love fruitcake or you hate it. If you make it right, it is a heavenly experience. I tried many different recipes when I was younger and had a lot of mixed results, but I finally figured our how to make delicious fruitcake every time! If you’re a beginner, I suggest trying the Never Fail Fruitcake recipe below!
In this post, you’ll find several different easy homemade fruitcake recipes, along with other similar recipes like German Stollen Christmas Sweet Bread, Fruitcake Fudge and Fruitcake cookies!
For a quick start, watch my video below and you can see the process from start to finish so you have a better idea what to expect.
Fruitcake Tips:
Here are some fruitcake tips to refine your fruitcake skills. These tips are helpful, and they’re goot to keep in mind, but don’t be so obsessive that you get overwhelmed.
- If you plan to make homemade fruitcake for Christmas, it is to make it now, this week, because most fruitcake is best if it seasons for at least a month and some are even better if you can let them set longer. (Don’t worry if you’re short on time. I made the no-fail homemade fruitcake recipe in the video above and it tasted great, even the next day, but longer is even better!)
- I know some of you would love to give fruitcake as gifts, but I suggest starting small until you have some success with it. The ingredients for homemade fruitcake can be expensive. If you buy a ton of ingredients and make several batches that subsequently flop you can be out a lot of money, so it’s best to make one at a time until you’re confident of your fruitcake skills.
- Be sure to allow you fruitcake to age for at least a month before you put it in the freezer. Freezing stops the aging (or seasoning) process.
- Always bake at low temperatures: 250° – 300° is best, but some recipes do go a little higher depending on their ingredients.
- Because fruitcakes take so long to bake, line the pan with 1-3 layers of parchment paper or brown paper to prevent them from getting too brown and drying out. Make sure the paper comes up a couple of inches past the top of the pan.
- Fill the pan only 2/3 full with batter.
- To help prevent the fruitcake from drying out, place a pan of hot water on a lower rack in the oven while it is baking.
- To test whether it is done, insert a toothpick. If it comes out moist but not gooey, it is done.
- Let fruitcake cool on a cooling rack before taking it out of the pan. When cool, dump it out of the pan and peel off the paper.
- You can bake your homemade fruitcake in muffin pans or mini loaf pans, but be sure to adjust the baking time. It will be shorter.
- Don’t store fruitcake in a plastic container. The fruitcake will absorb old flavors that have been left behind in the plastic. Wrap in plastic wrap; then foil. Do not wrap with the foil touching the fruitcake because in some cases it can cause a chemical reaction.
- You can take any basic fruitcake recipe and change what you put in it as far as the fruits and nuts are concerned. Just be sure you use the same amounts. For example if it calls for one cup of dried pineapple, you can replace it with mango as long as you use one cup.
- Always mix the fruit and nuts with some or all of the flour for the recipe before you put it in. This keeps all these things from sinking to the bottom. Do this with any recipe that calls for fruit or nuts.
- As with any recipe, read the fruitcake recipe from start to finish before you begin!
Homemade Fruitcake Recipes:
PrintNever Fail Fruitcake
This is a big fruitcake recipe but you can easily half it. Using half, you can make 22 cupcakes. If you do make cupcakes, only bake them for 40 minutes.
Ingredients
1 lb. candied cherries, chopped
1 lb. dates, pitted and chopped
1 lb. candied pineapple, chopped
1 lb. pecans, chopped
4 (8 oz.) pkgs. coconut
3 Tbsp. flour
2 (14 oz.) cans sweetened condensed milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300°.
- Grease two 9×5 pans.
- Line with brown paper or parchment paper.
- Mix everything very well.
- Press into pans.
- Bake 1 1/2 hours.
- Cool and remove from pan.
This fruitcake can be served right away, but is better if you let it sit in the refrigerator for several days to a week to allow the flavors to meld.
Christmas Wreath Traditional Fruitcake Recipe
(You can take out anything like the dates or fruits and replace them with equal amounts of something you prefer.)
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups raisins
1 cup red and green cherries
3/4 cup dates, pitted and chopped
3/4 cup candied pineapple, diced
1/2 cup coconut
3 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup butter
1 1/4 cups white sugar
1 tsp. lemon zest
4 eggs
2 tsp. lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300°.
- Grease one tube pan.
- Line with parchment paper.
- Grease the parchment paper.
- Mix first 8 ingredients.
- In separate bowl cream butter, sugar and add lemon zest, eggs and lemon juice.
- Mix into flour mixture.
- Bake for 2 hours.
This fruitcake can be served right away, but is better if you let it sit in the refrigerator for several days to a week to allow the flavors to meld.
No Bake Fruitcake Recipe
Ingredients
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups raisins
2 cups mini marshmallows
2 cups candied pineapple chunks
2 cups dates, pitted and chopped
1 cup dried currants
1 cup walnuts, chopped
2 cups almonds, chopped
1/4 cup candied cherries
1/2 tsp. each nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, salt
4 cups graham cracker crumbs
Instructions
- Grease a 9×5 loaf pan.
- Mix everything well and pour into the pan.
- Cover and let stand in a refrigerator for 1 week to age.
Poor Man’s Fruitcake Recipe
Ingredients
4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
16 oz. gum drops, no black ones
3 cups raisins
1 cup pecans
1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten well
1 1/2 cups applesauce
1 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbsp. hot water
1 tsp. vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°.
- Grease two 9×5 loaf pans and line with parchment paper.
- Sift flour and spices.
- Cut gum drops into fourths, and mix those, the raisins and nuts with half of the flour mix.
- Cream together butter, sugars and eggs.
- Alternately, add the flour mix without gum drops and then applesauce.
- Add the baking soda to the hot water and mix it into the batter.
- Add the vanilla.
- Add the gumdrops, raisins, and nuts portion of the flour mixture.
- Bake for 2 hours. If you use a tube pan instead of loaf pans bake 30-40 minutes longer.
This fruitcake can be served right away, but is better if you let it sit in the refrigerator for several days to a week to allow the flavors to meld.
Fruitcake Fudge Recipe
Ingredients
Instructions
- Melt chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk stirring every 30 seconds until combined.
- Stir in fruit and nuts.
- Pour into a greased 8×8 pan.
- Refrigerate until set up. Cut into pieces.
German Stollen Christmas Sweet Bread
Ingredients
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 tsp cardamon
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
8-12 oz fruit cake fruit (as desired)
8-16 oz pecans (as desired)
1 cup raisins soaked in orange juice (drain juice before adding to dough)
powdered sugar or vanilla glaze
Instructions
- Dissolve yeast, 1 tablespoon granulated sugar and salt in warm water.
- Add milk, 6 tablespoons butter and ½ cup granulated sugar. Cool.
- Add eggs.
- Add 2 cups flour and beat until smooth.
- Stir in remaining flour.
- Add cardamon, cinnamon, nutmeg, fruitcake fruit, pecans and raisins.
- Knead to make a smooth dough.
- Place dough into a greased bowl.
- Divide the dough into two parts and form each into a loaf.
- Place on the prepared cookie sheet and allow to rise until doubled in size.
- Once risen, Preheat oven to 350°.
- Bake for 40-60 minutes, until golden brown and sounds hollow in the center. A meat thermometer inserted in the center should read 190° or higher.
- Cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar or frost with vanilla glaze.
- Slice and serve.
Fruitcake Bark Candy
Ingredients
Instructions
- Stir fruit and nuts into melted almond bark or wafers.
- Spread on parchment paper. Let harden and break into pieces.
Easy Fruitcake Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
1 pkg. cake mix (any flavor)
½ cup oil
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup pecans
1 cup fruit cake fruit (as desired)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- In large bowl, combine all ingredients. Blend well.
- Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.
- Bake 10-15 minutes or until set.
- Cool 1 minute. Remove from cookie sheets.
Notes
Note: Different cake mixes will act differently. Yellow cake mix spreads out more than the other mixes.
High Altitude: Add 2 Tbsp. flour and bake as usual.
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