Holiday Fruitcake with Apricot Butter Icing

There are two types of people in the world: those who absolutely love fruitcake and those who, unfortunately, hate it. This holiday staple may arguably be the least sought after baked good on the dessert table. Those who dare bring a fruitcake to a holiday party may just end up taking the entirety of it back home with them. 


Perhaps the notoriously dense cake deserves its outcast reputation … or perhaps it’s just an underdog waiting to shine. With the right combination of ingredients or maybe even the right butter (wink), fruitcake can transform into a light, but bold and flavorful holiday dessert. 


Here’s our favorite recipe for a delicious holiday fruitcake using Organic Majestic Butter:

Prep Time: ~25 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Serves: 12 slices

Ingredients

200g Organic Majestic butter, softened (about 1 ¾ sticks/14 Tbsp)

100g whole almonds (about ¾ cup)

200g all-purpose flour (about 1 ⅔ cups)

200g powdered sugar  (about 1 ⅔ cups)

4 medium eggs

700g mixed dried fruit (about 4 ⅛ cups)

25ml brandy (about 5 tsp)

 

For the icing:

150g Organic Majestic butter, softened (about ⅔ cup/10 ½ Tbsp)

150g apricot jam (½ cup)

275g powdered sugar, sifted (about 2 ⅓ cups)


Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 325ºF. Grease a deep 8 inch round cake tin with a little bit of the butter, then line with parchment paper.
  2. In a food processor, chop the almonds with the flour until the mix resembles crumbs. 
  3. In a separate mixing bowl, beat the butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy using a hand or stand mixer. Then add the eggs in one by one and beat until combined.
  4. Fold in the flour and almonds, dried fruit and brandy using a spatula or large spoon. Once combined, scrape the batter into the tin and level the surface.
  5. Bake for 1 hr 15 mins, until a skewer poked in comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the tin.
  6. When the cake is completely cooled, make the icing quickly by beating the softened butter, apricot jam and powdered sugar until pale. Don’t allow the butter to get too warm or overbeat as the icing might split. 
  7. Gently remove the cake from the tin and swirl the icing all over the cake using an offset spatula. Then leave in a cool place to set, but do not refrigerate.

Adapted from BBC goodfood

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