Orange Slice Fruitcake

This isn’t the dense, boozy fruitcake people joke about re-gifting. Candied orange slices, chopped dates, pecans, and grated coconut get folded into a creamed butter and buttermilk batter, then baked slow at a low temperature for two hours. The result is moist, tender, and loaded with fruit and nuts in every slice.

Tossing the fruit and nut mixture with flour before adding it to the batter is the technique that keeps everything suspended. Without that flour coating, the heavy pieces sink straight to the bottom during the long bake and you end up with a plain cake on top and a dense fruit layer below.

The citrus glaze is the finishing touch. Orange juice, lemon juice, sugar, and butter get simmered together and spooned over the cake while it’s still warm. The warm cake absorbs the glaze like a sponge, and that sweet-tart citrus soaks all the way through.

Chef Tips

• Cream the butter and sugar until genuinely fluffy. This takes several minutes. Proper creaming creates the air pockets that keep the cake light despite all the heavy mix-ins.
• Add eggs one at a time and beat well between each. Rushing this step breaks the emulsion and gives you a greasy, flat batter.
• The tube pan is important. It allows heat to reach the center of this dense batter evenly. A regular cake pan would leave the middle underdone.

Variations

• Bourbon fruitcake: Brush the warm cake with bourbon before glazing for a boozy holiday version.
• Walnut swap: Use chopped walnuts instead of pecans for a slightly more bitter, earthy nut flavor.