Caramel Fruit Cake is a family favorite Christmas treat with a rich caramel base studded with brightly colored fruit and nuts. And it is so easy to make, just mix up a few ingredients and bake.
In my family this is called Eleanor Stone's Fruit Cake. Eleanor Stone was a friend of my grandparents whom I'm sure I met, but really don't remember. In case you were curious.
I think Caramel Fruit Cake is a bit more SEO friendly.
Technically, "Fruit Cake" is kind of a misnomer. There are no traditional cake ingredients such as egg, flour, butter (or oil), or leavening.
It is more of a candy that looks a bit like cake.
Caramel Fruit Cake Ingredients
As I said above there aren't any typical cake ingredients in this recipe. So, what are the actual ingredients?
sweetened condensed milk - This is the glue that holds the other ingredients together and gives it the beautiful caramel color and flavor.
shredded coconut - sweetened or unsweetened doesn't make much of a difference with all of the sugar in the other ingredients
nuts - use your favorite, or combination of favorites: pecans, almonds, walnuts, etc.
glace cherries and pineapple - not maraschino cherries and canned pineapple, those have too much liquid. You want the candied cherries and pineapple used in fruit cake. If you want a little lemon flavor, you can use fruit cake mix that also includes candied citrus peel.
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup chopped nuts (such as pecans, walnuts, almonds, etc.)
- 1 cup shredded coconut
- 1 cup glace cherries
- 1 cup glace pineapple
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Line an 8 inch cake pan or 1 pound loaf pan (8½ x 4½ inches) with foil and lightly grease.
- Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl, stirring by hand until thoroughly mixed.
- Pour into prepare pan.
- Bake until brown on top, about one hour.
- Place on a cooling rack to cool completely. Remove from pan and remove foil, slice and serve. Store extra in a zip to lock bag.
Sound fabulous? Share it!
More Christmas Cake Recipes
Until next time, happy eating!
~Audrey
April Morovich
I found a handwritten recipe for this fruitcake in a c.1950s cookbook. It's funny that this is the only website that I've found a copy of this recipe especially given the gluten free trend. It's getting made alongside the "typical" fruitcake I make each year!
Audrey
How fun! I love old cookbooks. And it makes sense since this recipe came from a friend of my grandparents. Maybe, that's where she got it from originally.