Traditional Plum Cake Recipe (The BEST Christmas Fruit Cake)

Last updated on August 26th, 2024 at 06:38 am

Plum cake recipe that you'll save for years to come. This Christmas fruitcake is a rich, moist, and decadent cake that is loaded with fruits, almonds, and spices. You'll never like any store-bought plum cakes after you bake this one!

Be sure to check out my French Yogurt Cake recipe!

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Baked goods are my favorite among the good influences the British brought to India. There are more bakeries in India now than the number of gas stations or pharmacies. 

 When I was a kid, I remember buying Madeleines even before I knew the proper name for them and enjoying lamingtons like they were candies. Every year, around Christmas, when stores stock up on Christmas goodies, bakeries stock up on plum cakes.

Though these days in modern bakeries I see panettones, yule logs, etc. When I was a kid, Christmas fruitcakes were the only popular Xmas-time treat. No frosting, no marmalade just plain delicious cake. 

I think Christmas Fruitcakes or Plum cakes are here to stay and we always look forward to this season. The first time I made this plum cake, I fell in love! It tasted better than the store-bought versions, with fruits in every bite.

I don't drink alcohol, but I do love it in desserts. And I've always been a fan of rum and raisins chocolate. When I took a whiff of the fruits soaked in rum, I fell in love then again. The fruits absorb a decent amount of rum and soften up. The combined with spices and baked, would spread a beautiful aroma around.

RICH PLUM CAKE RECIPE / CHRISTMAS CAKE:

RECIPE HIGHLIGHTS:

• Better-than-store-bought - You'll never like any other cake from bakeries or even top hotels. This plum cake recipe will be a keeper.
• Time-taking but easy - The soaking part may seem daunting but it is just 2 days of work. And you will reap its benefits.
• Crowd-pleaser - Your family and your friends will love this. You'll be a start to your kids. 
• Non-alcoholic - The alcohol content evaporates and you'll be left with only the taste of the Rum. It won't make you boozy which means you can serve this plum cake to your kids.

WHAT GOES INTO THIS:

DRY FRUITS - I use mixed berries, golden raisins/currants, black raisins, dried figs, and black plums. Ensure that you get the pitted variety for stone fruit and raisins. 

ALCOHOL - This is the key ingredient in this plum cake recipe. Rum goes best here but you can use a mix of brandy and rum, I use aged Old Monk rum.

CITRUS - The zest and the freshly squeezed juice of oranges and lemons are added to the Rum. These give a citrusy flavor and natural sweetness to the cake. Pick fresh lemons to make the lemon juice, sometimes old lemons will give an excessively bitter taste. The same goes for the zest, there is nothing good like fresh lemon zest. 

WET INGREDIENTS - Unsalted butter, eggs, and brown sugar make up the wet ingredients of the cake batter.

DRY INGREDIENTS - The dry ingredients are plain flour, powdered almonds, baking powder, and salt. This flour mixture is then mixed with the spice mix. You can use all purpose flour or whole wheat flour for this cake. This cake does not need gluten, so feel free to substitute with either of the flours.

SPICE MIX POWDER - This is the secret ingredient. A powdered mix of nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves are great.

WHAT IS SOAKING IN THIS PLUM CAKE RECIPE:

There are so many ways to make this cake. The most traditional method way is to soak the fruits for a month. Bake it a month before Christmas and mature the cake by feeding it with rum once a week for three weeks. Leaving it to rest during the last week before Christmas. Although it seems cumbersome, it yields the most delicious cake. Over the years, I've experimented with different methods and finally settled on this particular plum cake recipe given below. 

The traditional method of soaking and feeding was the best. But it was too boozy for my taste. Or perhaps I am just looking for a Christmas fruitcake similar to the ones I've always had from local bakeries. You can also make the cake by soaking the fruits just overnight. This is certainly not bad when you are in a hurry. The flavor was a little less compared to when the fruits were soaked in for a longer time. Eventually, I decided to stick with the soaking fruits for a month in extra liquor and skip the feeding process.

How to make rich plum cake / Christmas fruit cake:

FIRST DAY - SOAKING:

• To make the fruitcake, the first step involves chopping up the dried fruits. You'll need a total of 500g of dried fruits. I use about 200g of 60g figs, 100g prunes (dried plums), 150g mix of golden raisins and black raisins. Make sure you buy seedless grapes, as the seeds turn out to be annoying disturbances. You can mix up the ratio of fruits as you like. Chop them up into even, little pieces. Put them in a glass jar. 
• Pour about 150ml of good-quality rum. I used Old Monk in this Christmas Plum cake recipe. Pour in the juice of one lemon and one orange. Add in the zest of lemon and orange as well. Close the jar and refrigerate for 10-30 days. 
• Stir it every few days and put it back in the refrigerator. I've used slightly more rum, this way the cake tastes like it's been fed with rum, but without being very boozy. 

SECOND DAY - DAY OF BAKING:

• Whipping up the batter for this is probably easier than a brownie. Gather the dry ingredients in a bowl and give it a good mix. 
• Add the sugar and room-temperature butter to a large bowl. You don't need a stand mixer or a hand mixer for this one. You can simply use a wire whisk and manually do it. The batter doesn't need to be whisked for too long. If you have a hand mixer, it will just shorten the time.
• Whisk the sugar and butter until it's light and fluffy. It takes about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one by one, whisking after each addition. 
• Once all the eggs are in, whisk for a good 5 minutes on medium speed. Until it is pale yellow and light. 
• Add half of the dry ingredients to the wet batter. Use a spatula to fold it in. Once mixed, add the other half and gently fold it until completely combined. 
• Now comes the best part of this plum cake recipe. Add the fruits along with the leftover rum (if any) to the batter. Mix gently. 
• Preheat the oven to 150C for 10 minutes. I've used two 6-inch springform cake pans. It gives two thin cakes. This can also be made in a 9-inch cake pan. Coat the pan with butter and line it with parchment paper. Make sure the sides are taller than the pan itself.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and gently spread it out to the corners. Give the pan a good tap to release any air bubbles. 
• Bake for 60-90 minutes. Check for doneness after 60 minutes by inserting a thin and long skewer. 
• Remove from the oven and let the cake cool over a wire cooling rack. Allow it to completely cool down before removing from the pan.

Smear marmalade lavishly and enjoy a slice of your homemade Christmas Fruitcake! 

MATURING THE CAKE:

This extra step is for those who'd like to go the extra mile. And especially for those who don't mind more booze (alcoholic content).

• Brush the cake with rum immediately after removing it from the oven. Poke tiny holes using a VERY thin skewer or toothpick. Feed the cake by pouring a few teaspoons of rum every week. 
• Wrap it up with parchment paper and plastic wrap after feeding.
• Originally they wrapped it in plain cotton cloth.
• At this point, you can refrigerator the whole cake in a large container. Repeat this step every week for 2-3 weeks and skip the final week before Christmas. 
• Cakes with this amount of alcohol needn't be refrigerated once you cut them. But don't take my word for it, factor in your climatic conditions and room temperature.

HOW TO SERVE THIS CAKE:

• Serve the plum cake as it is. It is our preferred way of serving it.
• Serve it with coffee or tea.
• Pair it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or crumble fruitcake to make the perfect dessert. 
• Top it with whipped cream and serve this Christmas Fruitcake

VARIATIONS TO THIS PLUM CAKE RECIPE:

For those who don't like any booze: You can substitute the rum with unsweetened orange juice. Soak the fruits in juice and keep it refrigerated until ready to use. Bake the cake as per the instructions in the recipe card. 

For those who don't eat eggs: Substitute eggs with condensed milk. 1 egg = 4 tablespoon condensed milk. When using sweetened condensed milk, ensure that you reduce the sugar. For this recipe, cutting the sugar to 100g would be good.

HOW TO STORE THIS CHRISTMAS PLUM CAKE:

Christmas is for everyone, ants and bugs want their share!

So keep it away from them by transferring the cake to an airtight container. If you don't have a box that will fit your cake, cut the cake into pieces and store the individual slices. 

You can leave this cake in room temperature for 2-3 days. But just to be safe, store it in the refrigerator and then heat it in the microwave for a few seconds. I usually take the cake out from the refrigerator in the afternoon and serve it in the evening. 

FREEZING - I find that this cake becomes very crumbly when I freeze and thaw it. But should you find yourselves in a bind, then wrap the slices with plastic wrap and put the pieces in an airtight container. 

TIPS FOR BEST RESULTS:

• ALMONDS - This is a great recipe where I use ground almonds which give a beautiful texture. Do not use almond flour which is mostly blanched and very fine. The first preference should be to powder the almonds afresh but if you can not do it, then use almond meal. 
• Baking Pan: Use a springform pan for baking this Christmas fruitcake. It'll be easier for you to remove the cake. 
• Leftovers - Do not keep any remaining batter in the fridge. Bake it and then store it for later. 
• The top of the cake should be flat not raised and cracked. So you don't need any other ingredients like sour cream or yogurt to make this cake moist or soft. This cake is a dry to moist cake,
• Sides of the pan - If possible wrap the springform pan with a strip of wet cotton cloth. This would keep the center of the cake from rising. 
• Wait until the preheated oven is ready before you place the cake inside. Refrain from opening the oven until the time is up.

EASY CLEANUP:

Cleaning up is a boring task if left unplanned. And when it gets tedious, we are not enthusiastic about cooking anymore. It happens to the best of us, which is why I'm including this section.

• Using a parchment paper is always better when it comes to baking and for this recipe as well.
• Use a springform cake pan; from which you can easily get the cake out. 
• Wash the chopping board immediately after chopping the dry fruits. It gets stickier by the minute.
• To remove the alcohol smell from the glass jar used for soaking, fill the jar with warm water and baking soda. Let it sit for 2 hours and then wash it with liquid soap.
• Soak the large bowl used for making the batter and the whisk attachment of the electric mixer in warm water and baking soda before putting them in the dishwasher. This would get  the smell off of them easily. 

DO YOU HAVE MORE QUESTIONS?

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