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Easy Fruit Cake Recipe: Moist, Rich, and Perfectly Spiced

Easy Fruit Cake Recipe

A moist British-style fruit cake made with a creamed butter-and-brown-sugar batter, mixed dried fruit, glacé cherries, mixed peel, mixed spice, and black treacle. It makes one 20 cm round cake with about 10–12 servings.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 minute
Total Time 2 minutes
Servings: 10 servings
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Cake Batter
  • 225 g Unsalted butter, softened
  • 225 g Light or dark brown sugar
  • 4 Large eggs, at room temperature
  • 225 g Self-rising flour
  • 2 teaspoons Mixed spice
  • 1 tablespoon Black treacle or molasses
Fruit Mixture
  • 450 g Mixed dried fruit
  • 100 g Glacé cherries, halved
  • 100 g Mixed peel, chopped
Optional Adjustment
  • 2 tablespoons Milk, only if the batter is unusually stiff
  • 1 pinch Salt, if using unsalted flour rather than self-rising flour

Method
 

Step-by-Step
  1. Heat the oven to 150°C conventional, 130°C fan, or 300°F. Grease and line a 20 cm round cake tin with baking parchment.
  2. Beat the softened butter and brown sugar until lighter, creamy, and well combined. This usually takes several minutes and gives the cake its soft, even texture.
  3. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. If the batter begins to curdle, add a spoonful of the flour before continuing.
  4. Mix in the black treacle or molasses until evenly distributed. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl so no dark streaks remain.
  5. Fold in the self-rising flour, mixed spice, and salt if it is needed because the flour is unsalted. Use a gentle motion and stop as soon as the dry ingredients disappear.
  6. Toss the dried fruit and halved cherries with a little flour taken from the measured amount, then fold them into the batter with the chopped mixed peel. Add the milk only if the mixture is unusually stiff; it should drop slowly from a spoon.
  7. Transfer the batter to the prepared tin and level the surface with the back of a spoon or a small palette knife. Make the center slightly lower than the edges if you want to reduce doming.
  8. Bake for 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours, keeping the oven door closed during the early part of baking. The cake is ready when a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean or with only a few moist crumbs.
  9. If the top browns too quickly, cover it loosely with foil during the final 30–45 minutes. The foil should sit gently over the cake without pressing into the rising surface.
  10. Cool the cake in its tin for about 30 minutes, then remove it and finish cooling completely on a wire rack. Slice only when cool for the neatest portions, or wrap it and let it rest overnight for fuller flavor.

Notes

Tossing the dried fruit and cherries with a little flour helps distribute them through the batter and reduces sinking. Bake at a low temperature and avoid opening the oven early because fruit cakes are dense and need steady cooking. For the best flavor, wrap the completely cooled cake and let it rest overnight before serving.