Moist Light Fruit Cake

Asked by 2cake. Answered on 18th September 2016

Full question

I'm looking for a recipe for a light,moist fruit cake. I have tried lots from recipe books but they all come out a little dry or the fruit goes to the bottom.

Our answer

Most rich fruit cakes are moist and can be "fed" with extra alcohol after baking to help to keep them moist. But if you are looking for a lighter-coloured fruit cake we would suggest considering Nigella's Gorgeously Golden Fruit Cake (from Nigella Christmas). This is a cake that is packed with dried fruits in the form of apricots, pears and sultanas, but is also gluten-free as it contains ground almonds (almond meal) instead of flour. The almonds also make the cake extremely moist.

If the fruit is sinking in your cake and it is a cake made with flour then you can toss the dried fruits in 2-3 tablespoons of the flour from the recipe before you make the cake. Some dried fruits have a very light coating of vegetable oil on them which can cause them to slip to the bottom of a cake as it is baking. The flour coating will help to reduce this effect. Also if you have larger fruits such as apricots or glace cherries then cut them into smaller pieces to reduce the risk of them sinking to the bottom.