I am not a fan of fruit cake because they have a lot of candied fruit and the texture is just weird to me. This is a real Christmas cake with a touch of spices, citrus flavors, some dried fruit and nuts.
The steps of this recipe are very easy to follow BUT you should know that you’ll need quite a few ingredients (easy to find at the grocery store) so your cake taste amazing.
Video for this recipe is posted on my blog. Click HERE.
Let’s start baking.
Yield 1 regular size Bundt cake pan.
Ingredients
For the cake
2 and 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 and 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 and 2/3 cups light brown sugar
4 large eggs at room temperature
orange zest from 2 oranges
1 cup milk at room temperature. You can use any milk you prefer.
1/4 cup honey
1 cup toasted chopped walnuts . Place your raw walnuts on a baking sheet and bake them for 7 minutes . Oven 350 F. Let them cool before using.
1 cup dried fruit (I used cranberries, blueberries and golden raisins)
1/4 cup crystallized ginger by The Ginger People. Get it HERE.
For the glaze
1 and 1/4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/4 -1/2 teaspoon orange extract
2-3 tablespoons cold water
Directions
For the cake
1.- Preheat your oven to 350 F. Prepare your Bundt cake pan: Grease your pan really well with softened butter. I use a kitchen brush to spread the butter into each corner of the pan. Then, flour your pan bottom and sides and get rid of any excess. This step is very important because if you do it right, you won’t have any issue later on when you release the cake from the pan.
2.- In a medium size bowl mix: flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Mix and set aside.
3.- In another bowl and using an electric mixer in medium speed, beat your butter for 2 minutes. Then add oil and mix for another minute. Add in light brown sugar and mix for 2 minutes. Add orange and mix for a quick 30 seconds.
4.- Now in medium-high speed add eggs, one by one mixing well after in additions. Add vanilla extract and honey, mix for 30 seconds.
5.- Add milk. You should know that after adding the milk your mixture will curdle but that’s totally fine. Add your dry ingredients and mix in low speed until everything is well combined.
6.- Add in your dried fruit, nuts and crystallized ginger. Give a little mix and that’s it.
7.- Pour the batter into your prepared pan. Smooth the top with a spoon. Bake for about 50-60 minutes until the a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
8.- Let it cool for 30 minutes and then run a knife around the edges and carefully flip it over a cooling rack and let it cool completely.
9.- When it is cooled completely, you can make the orange glaze or just dust the top with powdered sugar.
For the glaze
1.- In a small bowl mix powdered sugar, orange extract and 2 tablespoons cold water. Mix well until smooth. If you think your glaze is too thick add another tablespoon of water. Glaze should be thick enough so it doesn’t get absorbed by the cake. Taste the glaze and decide how much of the extract you want to use, I used 1/2 teaspoon.
2.- Pour the glaze into a small measurament cup and pour on top of the cooled cake. Let the sides drip. Wait for a couple of minutes to set a bit and then add some sprinkles (if you want to) .
3.- Finally, let the glaze set for 30-45 minutes. Slice and serve.
