An easy rich fruit cake recipe that's beautifully moist using apples and mixed fruit. It's boiled with brandy first. And once baked, feed regularly with more brandy to mature leading up to Christmas. And it can be made months in advance!
When I first made this easy Christmas cake recipe, I was new to the concept of simmer and stir. In fact, I originally (and religiously) baked a Delia Smith fruit cake and was so happy with what I achieved, from there on, baking has been my only gifts.
It may be very fitting with an uncertain 2020, but I would much rather stay at home and bake than get in line in a busy shop. And to possibly buy unwanted presents. At least Christmas food hamper gift ideas don't take up much space for long.
So, perhaps you'll want to join me in this way of gifting this year. And, remember how prepped about 10kg of apples from my tree in my apple crumble with frozen apples last month? Well, this apple fruit cake came from the question, can I bake a Christmas cake with frozen apples? And luckily I've found a way, which I'll show you now.
Why I Love This Simple Fruit Cake Recipe
- It's an easy boiled Christmas cake recipe making it quick to make than a traditional recipe
- This recipe is cheap by using up lots of homegrown frozen apples
- It makes a super moist fruit cake recipe as we feed it with brandy before it cools down (and feeding it more leading up to Christmas is optional)
- It's delicious on its own and no need to learn how to decorate a Christmas cake like a pro if you don't want to
- With it being an easy fruit cake recipe with brandy, it keeps for months in an airtight container
- It can be adapted as a small Christmas cake recipe to make 4 as I did here and the cooking times are the same
- It has yummy caramelised apple throughout
- A homemade Christmas cake ALWAYS goes down well when given as a gift. It's the ultimate gift of love, in my opinion.
However, there's one warning when baking Christmas cakes for food hampers. Once you give one, people want one EVERY year.
Baking Equipment for Easy Christmas Fruit Cake with Apples
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- jam pan
- Weighing scales
- Cheese grater
- lemon juicer
- Measuring spoons
- Measuring jug
- 20cm round cake tin
- Spatula
- baking paper
How to Make an Old Fashioned Boiled Fruit Cake with Apples
First, you'll find my printable recipe for my Christmas apple cake towards the bottom of this page. But, I'm going to give you a quick list of how I make it, so you can gauge whether this is the recipe you're looking for.
- Place all the fruit, sugar, treacle, butter, brandy, fruit juice and zests in a pan to simmer and stir for 10 minutes. This slowly reduces down and the fruits become super moist and plump
- Then preheat the oven at 130c fan or gas mark 2 while allowing the reduced fruit cake mix to cool
- Now line a 20cm cake tin, or 4 mini ones with baking paper
- Stir in the eggs, then ground almonds, followed by the sliced almonds into the boiled fruit mix
- Sieve the flour, spices and baking powder and spoon into the cake tin
- Bake for 45 minutes, then lower it to 120c fan or gas mark 1 for 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes. To know it's done, prick in several places with a skewer or dried spaghetti to see it it comes out clean
- Remove from oven, prick again in a few different places and pour 4 tablespoon over the top while cooling.
- Wrap up well in clingfilm and tinfoil and store in an airtight container and repeat feeding every week
What Apples Can I Use?
In this recipe, I used 500g frozen, then thawed Braeburn eating apples. But, you can use any apples you want. However, as this apple cake involves boiling apples with other fruit, it's important to freeze them first.
This makes it the perfect Christmas cake for anyone who has a freezer full of apples and hates waste. And you'll find the cake has delicious toffee apple nuggets with each bite.
Also, for anyone prepping 10kg of apples, you'll know that peeling is a daunting task. And that's why this recipe uses unpeeled but cored and diced apples.
If You Don't Have Apples
If you don't have apples, you could instead just use a mix of 750g dried fruit of your choice. Such as cherries, dates, raisins, sultanas, currants, mixed peel, etc.
Buying whole bags of dried fruit can get expensive if only baking one cake. So often, I just use what I have left from previous cakes.
Why Use Frozen Apples and Not Fresh?
Freezing chopped apples completely changes the texture, making them ideal for baking with. However, less so for eating them raw again.
It removes a lot of the apple juice when thawed and drained, reducing the weight to approx 300g. Note, I drained the juice away for quicker simmering times, but I'm sure you could defrost all cook it all together with a few more minutes.
But, the apples become spongy, making them great for simmering with other dried fruit. They won't disintegrate while simmering, unlike raw apples.
How to Freeze Apples For Baking
If you haven't got any frozen apples, what I do is:
- Have a bowl of cold water to hand
- Squeeze a whole lemon and pour into the water (or half a lemon if you're prepping 500g of apples)
- Now core and chop the apples and immediately place in the lemon water
- Drain and bag up in freezer bags
- Tip: you could flash freeze by spreading a layer on a baking tray so when you add them in a bag, they won't stick together, but it's not important for this recipe
- Leave the apples in the freezer for upto 3 months, but overnight is fine
- Defrost the apples on the day you want to bake a Christmas cake and drain the excess juice
- Finely dice the apples and squeeze out more moisture before adding to the jam pan to simmer with the other dried fruit
What's the Best Alcohol for Christmas Cake?
I tend to bake Christmas cakes with brandy as it's affordable and gives a luscious, rich fruit cake. And every bite is like a beautiful liqueur that my family love. But you could also opt for:
- Whisky
- Sherry
- Cherry brandy
- Dark rum
- Amaretto
- Rum and red wine
- Port for a mulled wine taste
How to Make an Alcohol Free Christmas Cake
If you're looking for an alcohol free Christmas cake (aka virgin fruitcake), then you can boil your fruit cake in about 200ml of water.
Or a mix of water, fresh orange juice or even a mug of brewed tea and simmer and stir your Christmas cake until it has thickened.
How Long Will an Alcohol Free Fruit Cake Last?
If you want to make a virgin fruit cake to last a long time, then you're best baking, wrapping and freezing for about 12 months.
If wanting to bake and eat soon, then it should last for up to 1 month at room temperature. Or, if you have fridge space, then you can store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.
Storing a Fruit Cake with Alcohol
When storing a boozy fruit cake, I store my Christmas cakes are fine at room temperature for 3 months. This means, I usually make this in September, although you'll usually find in supermarkets, other people are doing the same.
That's why, sometimes I'll also leave it until October. But note, the later you leave it, the less mature it will taste as you'll run out of feeding time.
I also like to wrap my Christmas cake well in clingfilm, then tinfoil and store in a cake container. Tip: recycling Celebration tubs are perfect for this. And every two weeks, I'll unwrap, prick, and feed it with brandy again.
Can You Overfeed a Christmas cake?
To my knowledge, I've never overfed a Christmas cake. And I've certainly never had any complaints. However, some bakers recommend feeding it a maximum of four times before it starts to get too stodgy.
I Have a Nut Allergy. Do I Need Ground Almonds, etc?
Making this apple fruit cake without ground almonds isn't vital. It's only there to make a more moist Christmas make with an essence of almond flavours.
If you want, you can simply remove it from the mixture and perhaps replace the sliced almonds for your favourite fruit. I think some nice halved glacé cherries would be perfect to stir in at this point.
Decorating Ideas for Your Christmas Cake
There are many ways to decorate a Christmas cake, but as I make so many, I prefer to keep it simple and a week before giving them away.
My Easy Christmas Cake Decorating Tips
My favourite method is to ice a cake with ready-made icing sugar while sat on a round cake board and decorated with a bow. In a nutshell:
- Apricot jam boiled in a pan with a splash of water and sieved before brushing over the fruit cake
- Dust icing sugar on a worktop and knead ready made marzipan and form a round shape to roll with a rolling pin until 3-4mm thick
- Place on the cake and smooth around the top and sides with your hands
- Use a sharp knife to score around the edge to remove the excess
- Repeat kneading and rolling ready made icing sugar
- Before adding on top, brush the marzipan with brandy or other and adding the icing sugar
Other Easy Decorate Cake Methods I Do
- Ready made icing sugar as above, but only as a disk on the top
- Top with a 300g mixed selection of nuts and cherries, stirred into some melted golden syrup
- Or, add a ribbon around for a simple and elegant Christmas cake
Related Posts
- Apple and mincemeat crumble
- Tea brack (fruit tea loaf)
- Betty's fat rascal recipe
- Easy jar mincemeat cake recipe instead of needing to buy bags of dried fruit
- How to Line a Cake Tin for Christmas Cake
- Slow cooker mincemeat recipe
- Spiced apple cake (or pear)
- Eating apple chutney
- Apple coffee cake with gooey chocolate
- Slimming apple crumble
- Apple and chocolate frozen bark
Recipe for Boiled Fruit Cake With Apples
📖 Recipe
Easy Rich Fruit Cake Recipe With Apples
Equipment
Ingredients
- 200 g unsalted butter
- 200 g dark muscovado sugar
- 500 g apples frozen, then thawed, diced and juice squeezed out by hand, becoming 300g *see notes below
- 100 ml brandy Plus extra for feeding
- 60 ml brandy *for feeding at the end while it cools down
- 1 orange zest and juice (approx 150ml)
- 1 lemon zest
- 3 large eggs lightly whisked
- 100 g currants
- 100 g candied peel
- 50 g dates pitted and chopped
- 1 tablespoon black treacle
- 90 g almond slices
- 50 g ground almonds
- 200 g plain flour
- 0.5 teaspoon baking powder
- 2.5 teaspoon ground mixed spice
Instructions
- In a large pan, add the butter, diced apples, dried fruit. peel, sugar, juice and 100ml brandy and slowly bring to the boil, meanwhile stirring until the butter has melted. Simmer for 10 minutes until it has reduced down.
- Turn off the hob and leave to cool for at least 30 minutes.
- While waiting, preheat the oven on gas mark 2 or 130c fan and line your cake tin or tins. Please make sure you line your cake tin by following my video tutorial here to ensure you don't burn your hard efforts.
- Once cooled, gently stir in your eggs, ground and sliced almonds and follow with the flour, baking powder and spices until all the flour is combined.
- Spoon into your cake tin and smooth over with the back of a spoon.
- Place in the middle of the oven with a vented piece of baking paper on top and bake for 45 minutes. Then lower the heat to gas mark 1 or 120c fan and continue to cook for another 1 hr to 1 hours 30 until it is firm to touch and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
- Take the cakes out of the oven and prick in several places with your skewer and spoon over the 60ml brandy and leave to cool.
- Then remove all the pack from the tin(s) and double wrap in baking paper then again with tin foil and store in an airtight container.
Disclaimer
*This is an unofficial page and has no affiliation or endorsement from Slimming World. Slimming World's website can be found at https://www.slimmingworld.co.uk/. Any syn values are personal estimates and not verified by Slimming World.
Video
Notes
What Apples Can I Use?
In this recipe, I used 500g frozen, then thawed Braeburn eating apples. But, you can use any apples you want. However, as this apple cake involves boiling apples with other fruit, it's important to freeze them first. This makes it the perfect Christmas cake for anyone who has a freezer full of apples and hates waste. And you'll find the cake has delicious toffee apple nuggets with each bite. Also, for anyone prepping 10kg of apples, you'll know that peeling is a daunting task. And that's why this recipe uses unpeeled but cored and diced apples.If You Don't Have Apples
If you don't have apples, you could instead just use a mix of 750g dried fruit of your choice. Such as cherries, dates, raisins, sultanas, currants, mixed peel, etc. Buying whole bags of dried fruit can get expensive if only baking one cake. So often, I just use what I have left from previous cakes.Why Use Frozen Apples and Not Fresh?
Freezing chopped apples completely changes the texture, making them ideal for baking with. However, less so for eating them raw again. It removes a lot of the apple juice when thawed and drained, reducing the weight to approx 300g. Note, I drained the juice away for quicker simmering times, but I'm sure you could defrost all cook it all together with a few more minutes. But, the apples become spongy, making them great for simmering with other dried fruit. They won't disintegrate while simmering, unlike raw apples.Nutrition
Pin Easy Rich Fruit Cake Recipe
Ann
What can I use instead of ground and whole almonds due to nut allergy?
Vikkie Lee
Hi,
You could just omit the ground almonds 🙂 It's really just there to make it a more moist Christmas cake. As for the sliced nuts - I'd be tempted to swap them for another fruit, like halved glacé cherries at that point. Hope you enjoy 🙂
Jo
Hi hon, just wanted to ask how long the cake stores for once made, please?
Vikkie Lee
So sorry for the delay! I probably would want to eat it within 6 months once it's been cut into and kept in a tin, but it can be made months in advance and frozen before ready to ice. It should keep at room temperature when fed with a 40% proof alcohol.