Category: Traditions

If you missed the boat for stirring up your fruitcake on the first Sunday of Advent, don’t let that deter you from giving this light fruitcake recipe a try. Fruitcakes are still tasty even when they don’t have several weeks to sit and age!

This year, the first Sunday of Advent found us traipsing about the White Mountains with a few of my siblings and my husband’s brother, who was visiting over Thanksgiving.

My thoughts were directed more toward mountains and leftover pumpkin pie than getting ready for Advent and Christmas.

It wasn’t until the next day that, surrounded by liturgical resources, cookbooks, and my file of Christmas recipes, I tackled Advent planning. And realized that I’d meant to make fruitcakes the day before. Oops.

Another week passed before I managed to collect all the necessary ingredients and actually bake the cakes.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. If you click on the links and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Read my full disclosure here.

Light vs. Dark Fruitcake

I usually make dark fruitcakes: the kind that consist mainly of dried fruits and spices, with a little flour to hold them together. I steep them in either brandy or apple juice, and age them in the refrigerator for a few weeks.

My husband isn’t the biggest fan of those cakes, and since I probably shouldn’t consume an entire fruitcake by myself, I decided to use a light fruitcake recipe this year.

What’s the difference? Well, light fruitcakes have a lot more butter, flour, and sugar than their dark counterparts. They’re more like fruit-studded pound cakes than a dark, sticky brick of spicy fruit (more or less).

Also, dark fruitcakes are meant to be steeped in dark spirits and aged for weeks or months. Light fruitcakes use light spirits, or none at all. Some of them are meant to be eaten fresh, not aged.

They are both fruitcakes in their own right, but light ones are more like fruitCAKE, while dark ones are FRUITcake!

A Brief History of Fruitcake

Which version is older? It’s hard to say. Fruitcakes as we know them were likely first made in England in the Middle Ages, when trade routes to the East introduced exotic spices and dried fruits.

These would have been very expensive, so they were saved for special occasions like Christmas feasts.

According to Saveur, fruitcake was eaten in 18th century Europe around the winter solstice, to mark the annual nut harvest.

There have probably been nearly as many fruitcake recipes are there are fruitcake bakers. The amounts and types of fruits, nuts, and spices varied depending on what was available.

For example, light fruitcakes today often contain vanilla. This is a New World plant, so it would have been unknown to medieval cooks.

By contrast, dark fruitcakes often contain molasses or dark treacle (its British counterpart). Treacle has been around for a long time, but was mostly used for medicinal purposes up until the 17th century or thereabouts.

Irish Dundee cake is a close cousin of the English fruitcake. Other cultures have their own traditional cakes made with fruits and nuts; some are aged with spirits, while others are not.

The basis for my fruitcake

Anyway, that’s why I didn’t go with my usual dark fruitcake. I have made both fruitcake recipes from A Continual Feast, by Evelyn Birge Vitz. (I highly recommend that wonderful cookbook, by the way! You can read more about it in this post about traditional cooking.) The following recipe is my adaptation of her Classic Light Fruitcake recipe.

Why didn’t I just follow that recipe? Because her light fruitcake recipe didn’t call for many spices. This may be normal in light fruitcakes, but I’m not going to make a fruitcake without spices–and lots of them!

My choice of spices for this cake was nutmeg and allspice, with a hint of green cardamom. I was going for warm flavors, but didn’t particularly want cinnamon. It seems like everything else I’m making for Christmas has cinnamon in it!

So I’ll make my excuse that there’s no one right way to make a fruitcake, and leave it at that.

I adjusted a few other ingredients to fit my tastes, and altered the amounts so that the recipe would yield 4 mini loaves instead of 2 large loaves. That’s a better size for our small family, and still gave me a few extra loaves for gifts.

Method

Leave your butter at room temperature until it is soft. Cream it with the sugar until light and fluffy. You can do this with a stand mixer, hand mixer, or with a good old wooden spoon.

Beat in the eggs one at a time, stirring well after each egg is added. Add spirits or fruit juice. You can use any spirit you prefer.

Light fruitcakes “traditionally” take light spirits like light rum or sherry. But that wasn’t the taste I was going for. I like to use brandy; that’s just how a fruitcake should taste, in my mind. If your grandmother always used Scotch or Irish whisky, go for it!

You can also use fruit juice in place of the spirits. Do use a light-colored juice, so it doesn’t turn your batter a muddy color. White grape juice, apple juice or cider, or apricot nectar are all good choices.

I added a touch of cardamom bitters for extra depth of flavor. This is not traditional as far as I know, but it’s one of my favorite flavors. You are welcome to substitute other bitters, or leave it out altogether.

Combine the dry ingredients in a small bowl before adding them to the creamed mixture. (Go easy on the spices if you aren’t a lover of nutmeg!) Last of all, add the mixed dried fruits and peel.

Choose your fruits

Here again is an opportunity for creativity. Use whatever dried or candied fruits you like. Dark raisins, golden raisins, sultanas, currants, dried cherries, dried pineapple, or various combinations of candied fruits are all options here!

I like to make my own candied orange peel. It’s simple to make and tastes much better than what you can buy at the store. However, it is perfectly fine to substitute candied citron or a mix of candied fruit peel if that’s what you have available.

Just make sure the final quantity is equal to what’s specified in the recipe, or your baking times may be different.

Butter your pans and pour the batter in. Bake at 325 degrees for an hour if you use the mini loaf pans. If you use larger pans, heat the oven to 300 degrees and plan to bake them for at least 45 minutes longer.

The cakes are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. I had no trouble with the cakes browning too fast (although I overbaked the ones in the picture), but if you think they are getting too dark, feel free to cover them with aluminum foil.

Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Decorate with a confectioner’s sugar glaze and candied cherries or pecan halves.

Aging Fruitcakes

If you won’t be eating the fruitcakes right away, round up some cheesecloth- or plain light cotton cloth will do in a pinch. Turn each cake upside down and pour a little spirits or cider over the bottom of the loaf.

This helps the cakes to stay moist during the aging process, and spirits additionally will help meld the flavors of the different fruits.

Wrap each cake in cheesecloth, and again in aluminum foil. I used cider on two cakes and brandy on the others, so I made sure to label them accordingly!

You may store the wrapped loaves in your refrigerator or in a cool cellar for several weeks to months- although I suspect if you use fruit juice, the won’t last as long.

When you are ready to serve the fruitcakes, unwrap them and decorate as described above.

If you’ve never tried to make fruitcake, I hope this spiced light fruitcake recipe inspires you to give it a go! It’s a very forgiving recipe because it’s supposed to be dense, and it will stand up to a lot of substitutions.

If you do try it, or have your own favorite fruitcake recipe, I would love to hear about it! Leave a comment below.

Print Recipe

Spiced Light Fruitcake

Here's a light fruitcake recipe which is similar to a pound cake in texture, but with the addition of extra spices to make the flavor closer to dark fruitcake.

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr

Cooling and Wrapping38 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 58 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: British

Keyword: Cake, Christmas, Fruitcake

Servings: 4 small cakes

Author: kimberly

Equipment

• cheesecloth

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3 tbsp spirits or fruit juice see note
• 1/4 tsp citrus or cardamom bitters optional
• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg freshly grated
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 2/3 cup candied orange peel chopped
• 2 1/2 cups mixed dried fruit
• 4 ounces spirits or apple cider optional
• 2/3 cup confectioner's sugar
• milk
• candied cherries or pecan halves

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• Cream the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl.
• Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition.
• Add spirits or fruit juice and bitters, if using.
• In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and spices. Add them to creamed mixture until combined.
• Mix in dried fruits and orange peel.
• Butter 4 mini loaf pans. Divide the batter evenly between the pans and smooth the tops. Bake at 325 degrees F for about an hour, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
• To Age: If you are not planning to serve the cakes right away, turn them upside down and slowly pour an ounce of spirits or apple cider over each cake. Wrap each in cheesecloth, and again in aluminum foil. Label and store in the refrigerator or a cool cellar for several weeks.
• Before serving, make a thin glaze of confectioner's sugar and milk. Drizzle over the tops of cakes, and decorate with candied cherries or pecan halves if desired.

Notes

You may use whichever spirits you like in the cake and for aging. Lighter spirits such as light rum or sherry are often recommended for light fruitcakes, but I like to use brandy.

If you would rather not use alcohol, feel free to substitute any light-colored fruit juice. I recommend white grape juice, apple juice or cider, or apricot nectar.

Even if you use alcohol in the cakes themselves, you may wish to use fruit juice to age them if you will be serving to children. Apple juice or cider works well for this purpose.

It’s Advent! This time of watchful, joyful waiting is my favorite season of all! The weeks leading up to Christmas are full of Advent traditions and preparations: there are gifts to make and wrap, decorations to put up around the house, and of course lots of food to prepare.

Many old European Christmas and Advent traditions involve foods that are made weeks (or months) in advance and aged. This is especially helpful for busy homemakers who never seem to have enough time to bake everything right before Christmas!

Spreading out the Christmas baking is something I have been working on for years. I started with making my fruitcake early, and since then I’ve gradually incorporated other customary foods into our own Advent traditions.

Last week I shared some of my favorite cookbooks, and this week I’m giving you a glimpse inside my Advent kitchen. From cookies to celebrate the special feasts that fall during Advent itself to Christmas treats that need time to age, here’s a run-down of my Advent baking.

Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. If you click the links and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Read my full disclosure here.

First Sunday of Advent: Stir-up Sunday

The first Sunday of Advent used to be known as “Stir-up Sunday” in some cultures, due to the words used in the Collect (the opening prayer of the Mass): “Stir up thy might, we beg Thee, and come…” In the old calendar, this prayer was used on the last Sunday of the Church year, right before Advent. It is still used in the Anglican tradition on that day. The words from the old prayer are: “Stir up the wills of Thy faithful people, we beseech Thee, O Lord…”

One of the best known Advent traditions on this day is to stir up fruitcakes or Christmas puddings, to symbolize the fact that our hearts need to be “stirred up” to receive the Lord at Christmas and at His second coming.

Fruitcakes

There are two basic types of fruitcake: light and dark. I prefer dark, spicy fruitcakes, which are mostly fruit with a little cake to hold everything together! My sister makes light fruitcakes, which are more like fruit-studded poundcakes.

Recipes for both types of fruitcake can be found in A Continual Feast, by Evelyn Birge Vitz. Did I mention that this is my favorite holiday cookbook? My mother has made special recipes from this book for years, and I was delighted to find that my mother-in-law also uses it!

Or you can try this recipe for a spiced light fruitcake, which I adapted from the aforementioned cookbook.

December 6: St. Nicholas’ Day

St. Nicholas, or Sinter Klaas, or Santa Claus, is associated with Christmas in several cultures. In the Catholic tradition, the feast of St. Nicholas is celebrated on December 6, during Advent. St. Nicholas was a real person, before he became the embodiment of Christmas! He was a bishop of Myra (in what is now Turkey) in the 4th century.

Many tales and traditions surround his life. One of the best known stories involves him dropping a bag of coins down the chimney of a family too poor to provide a dowry for their daughter to marry. Perhaps this is why Santa Claus is said to come down chimneys with his sack of toys?

If you want to celebrate this day like the Dutch do, have your children put out their shoes the night before. If St. Nicholas comes in the night, good children receive coins or treats in their shoes, while naughty children receive straw. Foil-wrapped chocolate coins are a tradition in our house!

Speculaas

Speculaas are Dutch cookies for St. Nicholas’ Day. They are light spice cookies with lemon or orange rind added to the dough: similar to pfeffernusse, but milder and without nuts or chunks of dried fruits and peel. They are traditionally shaped like St. Nicholas himself, or like windmills. It’s really not as hard as it seems to cut out a simple St. Nicholas figure.

These are some of my favorite Christmas cookies. I make the dough on St. Nicholas’ day and bake a few for us to enjoy, then freeze the rest for Christmas. You can find recipes in many cookbooks or online. Of course, my favorite is in A Continual Feast.

December 8: Immaculate Conception

This is a newer feast, established in 1854, but its importance in the Catholic Church is recognized by observing it as a solemnity. That means it has the same rank as Sundays. When the holyday falls on a Sunday, it is celebrated on the following Monday instead, so that neither feast is skipped.

Moravian Spice Cookies

Since it is more recently established, there aren’t many traditional foods associated with this day. Moravian Spice cookies can be made on this feast or the vigil, because of the Scripture passage Sirach 24: 20-21, “I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon and aromatic balm…” The passage describes Mary, but it mentions the spices in these cookies!

The dough is similar to gingerbread. It is rolled out very thin and cut into heart shapes. Once they are baked, the cookies are iced with fancy designs or religious symbols. You can find a recipe on Catholic Culture.

December 12: Our Lady of Guadalupe

This feast commemorates the apparitions of the Blessed Mother to an Aztec peasant named Juan Diego in Mexico in the year 1531. St. Juan Diego has his own feast day on December 9, but I’m not usually organized enough to celebrate both days!

Mexican Cookies

Mexican food would be appropriate to make on one or both of these feast days. In keeping with the cookie theme, I like to make Mexican Wedding Cakes. These are little round sugar cookies made with ground or chopped almonds and covered in powdered sugar. I’ve also heard them called Russian Tea Balls.

Whichever the actual origin, they are quite tasty, and freeze very well. If you want an authentic Mexican treat, try polverones de canele, a cinnamon-sugar covered cookie similar to snickerdoodles.

December 13: St. Lucy’s Day

St. Lucy was an early martyr from Syracuse, Sicily. Like St. Nicholas, there are more legends than known facts about her. She has been revered as a saint for centuries, perhaps nowhere so well as in Sweden. The name “Lucy” means “light,” and she is known as the saint of light. The traditions for her feast reflect this.

St. Lucy’s Crown

In the Swedish St. Lucia celebration, the eldest daughter of the family is dressed in a white gown and red sash, and crowned with a wreath of greenery and lingonberry sprigs and lighted candles. She gets up before sunrise and goes about waking her family with special buns and coffee.

The buns (lussebullar) are made in an S shape or an X shape with the ends curled, an ancient symbol of the sun. Alternatively, a yeast cake shaped like a crown may be served. You can put lighted candles on the cake if you don’t desire a walking fire hazard! The buns and cake are traditionally made of sweet yeast dough flavored with saffron. There’s a great recipe in-you guessed it!-A Continual Feast.

St. Lucy Gingersnaps

Luciapepperkakor is another Swedish tradition on this day. You can find an authentic recipe, but I just make my favorite gingerbread cutouts. Eat a few tonight, and save the rest for Christmas!

Third Sunday of Advent: Gaudete Sunday

Somewhere in between all these feasts is the third Sunday of Advent, known as Gaudete Sunday. The word “Gaudete” means “rejoice” in Latin. It is the first word of the Introit for that day.

In past centuries, when Advent was observed as a more penitential season (like Lent), Gaudete Sunday was a day of reprieve from the fasting and penances. It is still a day of rejoicing, reminding us that our Advent traditions and preparations are making our hearts ready to receive our Savior.

The liturgical color for this day is rose, instead of penitential purple which is worn during the rest of Advent. This color is used for the priest’s vestments, the laudian or altarcloths, and the candle for the third week of Advent.

The overall theme of the day is one of rejoicing. Today marks the midway point in Advent. The theme of the daily readings switches from anticipating the end of the world to anticipating Christ’s birth. In a Judeo-Christian society, this is when Christmas preparations begin in earnest.

Pink Party

Thus, a party is appropriate to add to your Advent traditions. And a party means… cookies! Pink cookies! I’ve heard of baking sugar cookie cutouts today and frosting some of them pink. Otherwise, candy cane cookies or pink spritz cookies work well.

But don’t stop there. Why not carry the pink theme throughout your dinner to really make it special?

Rose wine or a Pink Lady cocktail for the adults, and cranberry punch for kids make fun pink drinks. Serve them in wine glasses to add to the festivity (if your kids are old enough).

Ham and cheese rollups, secured with a toothpick, are pink and have the added bonus of looking a little like roses (if you squint). Other ham dishes will also work. Pink fruits like berries, pomegranates, and grapefruit combine nicely in a fruit salad.

Last but not least, set some fresh flowers on the table. Pink roses put the crowning touch on your celebration!

December 21: St. Peter Canisius

Peter Canisius was born in Holland in the year 1521. He entered the Jesuit order and traveled all over central Europe, preaching, founding colleges, and advocating reform within the Church. He had tremendous influence in both religious and secular society.

Pfeffernusse and Springerle

St. Peter Canisius spent much of his life in Germany, and he is one of the patron saints of that country. Therefore, I find it quite reasonable to make German Christmas cookies on his feast day.

Pfeffernusse, or peppernuts, are small, round, spicy cookies full of chopped almonds and citrus peel, and dusted with confectioner’s sugar. Grind your own spices for real old-world flavor! I have used different recipes, and am still experimenting to find one I like best.

Springerle are pale anise-flavored cookies. They are made with a specific springerle mold. You can find these in antique stores or specialty shops. Some look like rolling pins with different motifs engraved on them.

There are also lots of different recipes for these cookies. Some have whole anise seeds while others use powdered anise or anise extract. Plan ahead when making these cookies, because they need to sit out overnight on baking sheets.

December 23: St. John of Kanty

St. John of Kanty, or St. John Cantius, as he is sometimes called, was a Polish priest born in Kanty (Cracow, Poland) in 1397. He is known for teaching at the University and having a great love for the poor.

In honor of this saint, why not dish up some Polish food today? Kielbasi and saurkraut, pierogies, or cabbage rolls would be nice. It’s close to Christmas by now, so simple cooking now highlights the feasting that will begin in a few days. Simple meals are an important part of Advent traditions in many cultures.

Kolaczki

If you still want to make more cookies, try Polish kolaczki or kolachky. These jam-filled envelopes make pretty gifts–if you have any left after your family tastes them!

***

Well, that’s my Advent cookie-baking countdown to Christmas! By the time Christmas Eve rolls around, I can focus on other baking because all my cookies are done.

If you make all of these cookies along with me, you will have 8 varieties: Speculaas, Moravian Spice Cookies, Mexican Wedding Cakes or polverones de canele, Gingerbread, Spritz or cutout cookies, Pfeffernusse, Springerle, and Kolaczki. And fruitcake! Don’t forget about those fruitcakes wrapped tightly in the back of your fridge. (I did one year.)

I hope you find inspiration to start some new Advent traditions with your family. Happy baking!

Additional Resources

The Catholic All Year Compendium, by Kendra Tierney, is full of inspiration for celebrating the feasts and liturgical seasons as a family. Her suggestions fit kids of all ages, and most are simple enough for even the busiest of families.

Drinking with Saint Nick: Christmas Cocktails for Sinners and Saints, by Michael P. Foley, contains cocktail recipes and beer or wine suggestions for every day of the Advent and Christmas seasons! It’s a great way to learn about some lesser-known saints. Plus, it gives you so many ways to celebrate!