145 fruit cake recipes

Super moist friendship cake starts with a 30-day brandied fruit starter, layering peaches, pineapple, and cherries, then bakes into a tender, fruit-and-nut loaf. The shareable holiday baking tradition.

Orange liqueur cake with chopped dates, pecans, and buttermilk batter, soaked in a Grand Marnier orange syrup. The fruitcake alternative for people who claim to hate fruitcake.

Apple cobbler cake: a dense, oil-based bundt cake loaded with chopped apples and toasted pecans. Moist, fruit-heavy and fall-friendly. The kind of cake that lives on the kitchen counter.

Emily Dickinson's black cake, a dense Victorian fruitcake with brandy, molasses, raisins, currants, and citron spiced with cloves, mace, and cinnamon. Baked low and slow.

Traditional Irish porter cake made with stout beer, currants, raisins, mixed peel, and brown sugar. A dense, rich fruit cake that improves with a week of resting before slicing.

Old-fashioned Christmas fruit cake with boiled raisins, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. No eggs or butter needed, just cold water and shortening for a dense, spiced holiday cake.

Stars and stripes celebration cake: a fruit-topped flag cake with yellow sheet layers, strawberry whipped cream, banana and strawberry stripes, and blueberry stars. Fourth of July centerpiece.

Fresh apple bundt cake packed with three cups of chopped apples and pecans in a thick, oil-based batter. More fruit than cake, with a dense, moist crumb that stays soft for days.

Irish Porter Cake is a dense, dark fruit cake made with Guinness, currants, raisins, mixed peel, and warm spices. Bakes for up to 3 hours, then rests a full week before cutting.

Omie's apple torte loaded with chopped apples and nuts in a buttery cinnamon batter. A dense, rustic German-style apple cake that's more fruit than cake in every bite.

Savarin aux fruits, a classic French rum-soaked yeast ring cake. A light, beaten dough is baked, then drenched in flavored syrup until saturated and filled with whipped cream and fresh fruit. An elegant patisserie dessert.

Layered apple cake with cinnamon-sugar apple slices tucked between three tiers of orange juice-brightened batter. A dramatic tube pan cake that reveals a stripe of fruit in every slice.

Cranberry upside-down cake with fresh cranberries in a brown sugar butter base, topped with a light egg white-folded butter cake. A stunning holiday dessert flipped to reveal jewel-red fruit.

Hummingbird cake stacks three layers of banana-pineapple-pecan cake under tangy cream cheese frosting. Southern church-supper royalty, no mixer required, just stir and pour. The crumb stays moist for days thanks to fruit and oil.

Friendship fruit starter ferments pineapple, peaches, apricots, and cherries in brandy and sugar for three weeks. A boozy heirloom base for cakes, ice cream, or gifting.

Lizzies are bourbon-soaked fruitcake cookies with golden raisins, candied cherries, citron, and pecans. A classic Southern holiday cookie that freezes beautifully.