This is a wonderfully moist and tender cake, its full of ground spices and dried and candied fruit. Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit which is 180 degrees Celcius. You will need a 9×5 inch loaf pan that is buttered and lightly floured or sprays with nonstick spray. This is a really easy cake, you dint need a mixer, just two bowls of wet and dry ingredients then you will just mix them together. For the dry ingredients, add all-purpose flour than to that add baking soda, salt, and spices. Whisk them to ensure everything is mixed together then add in dried and candied fruits.

You can really vary this according to your personal preferences and you will need about two cups of the dried fruits of your choice then with your hands into the flour mixture, coat all the fruits with the flour. You can also macerate the fruits in alcohol a day before you start baking. For the wet ingredients, in a separate bowl, add firmly packed light brown sugar then add in melted butter that is cold to room temperature and then mix it in the sugar.

For flavoring, you will add vanilla extract, and then you will add buttermilk and stir it all together with the wet ingredients. Make a well at the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients then stir them together with a spatula until all the dry ingredients are moistened. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and to bake this cake, everyone’s oven is a little different so you will bake between 50 and 60 minutes, it will rise and turn a beautiful golden brown and a toothpick inserted at the centers comes out clean.

Once bakes, place the cake on a wire rack and let it cool for about ten minutes. To take the cake out of the pan, take a flat edge like a spatula or a knife and run it around the inside of the edges of the pan to make sure the cake is not sticking to the pan then place the wire rack on top and flip it and the cake will come out of the pan.

You can serve the cake warm, room temperature or cold and the cake will be good. This is a very flavourful cake, moist and tender from the buttermilk and you can use a variety of dried fruits and candied fruits to give your cake a lot of flavors. This is a loaf of great and quick bread, when you want a fruit cake and you don’t want to do a lot of work, this is the one for you.

Ingredients;

  • 1 1/2 cups (200 grams) all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon (2 grams) salt
  • 1 teaspoon (4 grams) baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1 cup (240 ml/grams) buttermilk, at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
  • 1/2 teaspoon (2 grams) pure vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup (150 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar
  • 2 cups (300 grams) dried and/or candied fruits (raisins, currants, dried dates, dried figs, dried cranberries, dried cherries, currants, dried apricots, candied mixed peel, candied cherries, etc.)

Instructions;

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Butter and flour, or spray with a nonstick vegetable/flour spray, a 9 x 5 x 3 inch (23 x 13 x 8 cm) loaf pan.
  2. In a bowl, whisk the flour with the salt, baking soda, and ground spices. Add the dried and/or candied fruits and toss to coat all the fruit.
  3. In another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, melted butter, vanilla extract, and sugar. Stir the buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients, mixing well. Immediately pour into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with an offset spatula or with the back of a spoon.
  4. Bake in the preheated oven for about 50 – 60 minutes, or until the cake is golden brown and just starting to pull away from the sides of the pan.
  5. A toothpick inserted into the center of the cake will come out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Let cool for about 10 minutes before removing from the pan.
  6. This cake is excellent warm from the oven or at room temperature. It can be covered and stored at room temperature, or in the refrigerator, for about a week. Or it can be frozen.