Light Fruitcake (with Coconut)
This light fruitcake is so moist, tender, and packed with flavor that it will quickly convert everyone into fruitcake fanatics! It's a traditional holiday cake that can amazingly be aged and stored for extended periods of time in order to deepen the flavors. Go ahead and serve this golden fruitcake with coconut to your friends and family and they will be requesting again it every holiday season!
Servings: 32 servings
Calories: 310kcal
Prep 12 hours
Cooking 1 hour 20 minutes
Resting Time 1 day
Total Time 1 day 13 hours 20 minutes
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Ingredients
Fruit
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 cup dried cherries
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 1 cup dried pineapple (chopped)
- 1 cup candied lemon peel (or candied mixed peel)
- 1¾ cup candied red cherries (red and green glace cherries, quartered or chopped)
- ¾ cup brandy (or rum, whiskey, orange juice, orange pineapple juice, or apple juice - plus more for brushing over the top of the cake)
Cake
- 1 cup butter (room temperature)
- 1¾ cup sugar
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ cup light corn syrup
- 5 large eggs (room temperature)
- 3¾ cup all-purpose flour (spoon and leveled)
- 1 cup milk (room temperature)
- 2 cups shredded coconut
- 1 large lemon (optional, zested)
(Note: 2x or 3x only changes the ingredient list)
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Instructions
Prepare The Fruit
- In a large bowl, combine your raisins, dried cherries, dried cranberries, dried pineapple, and candied lemon peel (or mixed peel).
- Cover the fruit with the liquid of your choice (brandy, rum, whiskey, orange juice, orange pineapple juice, or apple juice). Cover the bowl and allow the fruit to soak overnight (up to 2 days) at room temperature, stirring occasionally.
Prepare The Cake
- Preheat your oven to 300°F (150°C) and lightly grease and flour two 9x5 loaf pans.
- In a large mixing bowl (or your stand mixer), cream together the room-temperature butter and sugar until fluffy and light.
- Beat in the light corn syrup, baking powder, vanilla extract, salt, and nutmeg until well combined.
- Add the room-temperature eggs one at a time, making sure to beat well in between each addition and scraping down the bottom and sides of the mixing bowl if necessary.
- Alternate between adding the all-purpose flour and the room-temperature milk. Make sure you only mix long enough for the flour to be just combined, being careful to avoid over-mixing the batter.
- Pour the soaked fruit into the batter without draining off the liquid, as well as the candied cherries, coconut, and optional lemon zest. Stir until all of the fruit is evenly distributed.
- Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pans, only filling them ¾ of the way full.
- Bake the cakes in the preheated oven at 300°F (150°C) for 80-110 minutes. Your cakes will be ready when they are a nice golden-brown color and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean with only a few moist crumbs. *If your cake is browning too much while baking, you can place a piece of aluminum foil over the top and allow it to finish baking.
- Once baked, remove the cakes from the oven and brush the top of them with your preferred apple juice or liquor while they are still warm.
- Once your fruitcakes have cooled entirely, wrap them tightly in plastic wrap and let them rest for at least 24 hours.
Aging Your Fruitcake
- If you want to age your fruitcake or keep it stored for longer than 24 hours before serving, simply unwrap the cake once a week and brush the top of it with your preferred liquor or apple juice.
- Re-wrap the cake with plastic wrap and store it in a cool, dry place.
- Repeat the process of brushing liquid on the cakes once a week until ready to serve.
Notes
- This recipe will yield 10½ cups of batter, so you can choose to make different-sized cakes or loaves using a variety of pans. Feel free to prepare it in a bundt pan, mini loaf pans, or 9x13 pans. Just remember to adjust the bake time accordingly as smaller cakes will bake faster.
- If using 9x5 loaf pans, this will yield 2 cakes. An 8x4 pan will yield 3 cakes.
- The fruit in the fruitcake can easily be customized to your liking. Opt for dried or candied fruits. Some great options are raisins, mixed peel, candied orange peel, candied lemon peel, dates, dried cranberries, dried peaches, dried apricots, dried currants, and dried pineapple! Just make sure that the total amount of fruit is equal to about 6¾ cups.
- Fruitcakes have an amazing shelf life and also taste better as they age (if you can wait!). Of course, this fruitcake will also be delicious if you eat it as soon as possible!
- Letting the fruitcake rest for a minimum of 24 hours allows the flavors to mingle and the crust to soften. It really does help to boost the flavor!
- To store: Keep your fruitcake tightly wrapped with plastic wrap and stored at room temperature in a cool, dry place.
Nutrition
Calories: 310kcal (16%) | Carbohydrates: 52g (17%) | Protein: 4g (8%) | Fat: 9g (14%) | Saturated Fat: 6g (38%) | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 45mg (15%) | Sodium: 156mg (7%) | Potassium: 127mg (4%) | Fiber: 2g (8%) | Sugar: 32g (36%) | Vitamin A: 367IU (7%) | Vitamin C: 1mg (1%) | Calcium: 38mg (4%) | Iron: 1mg (6%)
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