The fruitcake that will change your mind about fruitcake — and a question about why we ever insulted it in the first place

How did fruit cake become a byword for twit? I’d really like to know. Or maybe it’s just my family. ‘What a fruitcake’ was commonly and vaguely affectionately used to describe someone a bit foolish. You could also be ‘a big banana’ or a ‘dingleberry’ but surely that doesn’t count as not an actual berry?

There is absolutely nothing foolish about a good slice of fruit cake. Perfect with a cup of tea. In fact, a gathering of my old book club, Reading Between the Wines, could typically polish off an entire fruit cake with a selection of herbal tea, coffee and shiraz. It’s the cake for every mood, or time of day.

This cake I offer you today can be made with mixed dried fruit or cranberries or dried apricots or in my family’s preference and pictured here: just sultanas.
I’ve made this cake A LOT. In fact, it was one of those things that I made intensely in the beginning, multiple times in a row with tweaks, to try and get it perfect.

The two men in my house – my husband and son – very diligently gave feedback on each version while leaving moderate room for improvement until I caught on.

Because obviously I’m a big banana.

You should make this and feel free to edit it but in any iteration it’s a lovely cake. Omit the brandy, although I feel it really improves it. Change out the fruit as desired, and enjoy with tea or whisky, on a pretty plate or unwrapped in the open air as a picnic. Everyone needs a lovely fruitcake in their lives. Some families, more than one.

Serves 8-10
Ingredients

400 g (3 ¼ cups) sultanas
125 ml (½ cup) brandy
250 g (1 cup) butter, plus extra for greasing
200 g caster (superfine) sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
250 g (1 ⅔  cup) plain (all-purpose) flour
100 g (⅔ cup) Self-raising Flour

Method

Put the sultanas and brandy in a bowl or jug to soak together for about an hour.
Preheat your oven to 160°C (320°F). Grease and line a 20 cm (8 in) cake tin.
Cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla essence.
Sift the flours together and add to the mixture alternately with the sultana/brandy mix.
Once combined, pour into the prepared tin and bake for 1 hour 10 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Recipe adapted from Fiona Weir’s book “From Scratch” published by Hardie Grant 2022, photography by Alan Benson