This Fruit Bundt Cake Recipe is a fruity sweet concoction that you will be proud to serve. A moist and easy holiday fruitcake recipe that isn’t overly sweet. Make copies of the recipe – people will be asking for it.
Christmas brings out the best in everyone and everything. Excitement, kindness, spirituality and we must not forget that people become decorating geniuses.
Another huge factor for the season is the food.
Everyone’s best recipes come out this time of year and seasonal treats are baked for ourselves and for others. An ‘every winter must-have’ is Fruitcake with a capital F.
Not the dry and hard fruitcake from ages past but the best fruity sweet concoction that you will be proud to serve. This Easy Fruitcake Bundt Cake recipe has all of those qualities and more.
Cookies also go hand in hand for holiday treats. A healthier cookie are these Dairy-Free Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies. Besides cranberries, there are lots of other flavorful and fiber-full ingredients.
These cookies are super! Place them on a plate next to your beautiful fruitcake and eyes will sparkle.
You know some of those candied fruit that you see during the holidays? The ones that look very questionable? Ones like those green candied cherries? I know they’re pretty and festive and all but they’re kind of scary.
Well, I left the candied cherries out of this recipe. There are still wonderful sweet treats inside and one of them is dried pineapple. For that lovely ingredient, a little goes a long way!
The fruit mixture is from fresh citrus and many different varieties of dried fruit. There are also so many healthy ingredients that it will blow your mind.
Table of Contents
Does Fruitcake Need a Topping?
- Nope. No icing, frosting or fruit topping. But isn’t this little bit of drizzle on the top pretty?
- Just a little bit of melted apple jelly drizzled back and forth here and there over the fruitcake makes it glisten.
- Let it drip down as you go around the top and your easy fruit cake is done.
Chefs Tips
- Six fruits are used in this recipe and pecans are added too. There are some really nice and healthy ingredients inside the recipe.
- A smaller 6 cup bundt pan is used for this recipe. The fruitcake stands taller and looks really pretty. You can definitely use a regular sized bundt pan. The fruit cake will just be shorter.
- That would also make the fruit cake last longer. The slices would be smaller pieces. Not in width but in height.
- All the slices are smaller anyway because fruitcake is so rich that you don’t need much. The 6 cup bundt pan serves 14 generous slices.
- The smaller size for this Easy Fruitcake Bundt Cake recipe is also handy because it makes fantastic holiday gifts. Add a little card with the recipe printed and tie it on the cellophane wrapper.
- Make extra copies of the recipe because one thing for sure is that people will be asking for it.
I don’t know if you ever noticed that there is kind of a competition out there in the world about who makes the best fruitcake.
It’s been going on for ages and I think my mom had one of the best. It was also fun shopping for the ingredients with her.
Well, now is your chance to win the ultimate contest. This recipe really is the best one!
Traditional Fruitcake vs this Healthy Fruitcake
Traditional fruitcake recipes include dried nuts, dried fruit, and “candied” fruit or peel. Candied fruit has been soaked in sugar syrup and also dried for preservation.
Fruitcake is usually finished in a loaf pan. That way it looks more like a cake than fruit bars.
This healthy fruitcake has no candied fruit but sweet dried fruit that makes the dessert so much better.
Check out the ingredients below. There is even flaxseed meal inside.
It is also made with whole wheat flour as to turn it into more like an actual cake although you wouldn’t actually realize it when finished.
This way the Christmas treat can be baked in a gorgeous bundt pan.
Ingredients
- Oranges – add the sweet-tart flavor of real fruit juice.
- Cranberry juice – is a little bit tart and just right for balancing the sweet fruits.
- Golden raisins – are plump and flavorful.
- Dates – add an extra good natural sweetness
- Dried pineapple – is super sweet and very festive.
- Pecans – add that extra mild crunch.
- Flaxseed meal mixed with water – is a healthy protein-packed egg substitute.
- Vanilla extract – is that special extra flavor for baked goods.
- Maple syrup – adds a little bit of sweet liquid that is necessary.
- Whole wheat pastry flour – turns this fruitcake into a fruity cake.
- Baking soda – helps the bundt cake rise nice and high.
- Ground Cinnamon – is a necessary spice.
- Ground nutmeg – completes the round of wonderful spices.
- Salt – is seasoning.
- Apple jelly – makes the fruitcake top glistening and inviting.
You choose the shape of the pan and be proud of your delicious and gorgeous fruitcake. A new tradition that I think you’ll want to carry on for years.
Best Fruit Bundt Cake
Ingredients
- 3 oranges
- 1/4 cup cranberry juice
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup golden raisins
- 1 cup pitted dates, chopped smaller
- 1 cup dried pineapple, chopped smaller
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 2 tablespoons flaxseed meal and 6 tablespoons water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
For the Glaze
- 1/2 cup apple jelly
Instructions
- What a beautiful bunch of ingredients.
- I used the smaller Bundt Pan (it measures 6 cups) because I wanted a taller cake. Mine came from Target and there are many colors to choose from. The cake turned out beautiful and you can slice thinner slices.
- You can certainly use any bundt pan that you have - A larger size will turn out lower height but it will still be really pretty.
- Oil the bundt pan - I used coconut oil.
- Mix the flaxseed meal and water together and set aside so that it can gel. It only takes a few minutes.
- Squeeze all of the juice from the oranges to get close to 1/2 cup of juice. It can be a bit under 1/2 cup but you need more than 1/4 cup.
- In a medium bowl add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Mix together.
- In a large bowl add the orange juice, cranberry juice, cranberries, dates, raisins, pineapple, pecans, vanilla extract, maple syrup and the thickened flaxseed meal mixture.
- Mix all together.
- Add the flour mixture to the fruit mixture and blend well.
- Pour into the prepared bundt pan and flatten it down, as well as you can, on the top.
- Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes.
- Cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 30 minutes.
- Remove from the pan and let cool completely.
- Melt the apple jelly in the microwave and drizzle over the top of the cake.
Sonja Knoerdel
I notice that other than the maple syrup, there’s no sugar. Does that mean that the dried fruit and cranberry juice should be sweetened? I’m making this for an office holiday party, and we have a new member who is vegan (and probably gets left out of a lot of office food parties) so I want it to be perfect. Thanks!!
Ginny McMeans
Yes, the ingredients add all of the sweetness you’d ever want. You just buy cranberry juice just like you would if you wanted to drink it. The dried fruit will be packaged one way and that’s how you buy it. Dried cranberries aren’t super sweet but dates and dried pineapple are. It won’t be overly sweet like some fruitcakes but it will be plenty sweet. In fact, I drizzled melted apple jelly over the top just to make it prettier for the photos not so much for the sweetness. But it’s still really good with the jelly. I think it’s wonderful of you to think of your new office member. I really think the bundtcake will be perfect and everyone will enjoy it.
Lee
This cake is delicious! Thank you.
Ginny McMeans
You are very welcome Lee and thank you for letting me know. I am so glad you found it.
Paoma
This fruitcake sounds delicious!
Only one question…could I omit the flaxseed or would this alter the recipe??
Margaret
This looks delicious, and I bought all the ingredients to make this Thanksgiving. Can you tell me how to store leftovers (if there are any?) My inclination is to refrigerate. Thank you!
Atheana
Can you sub something else for the flaxseed and the wheat flour?