Are you tired of dry fruit cake? Nothing worse than biting into a slice and it is so dry you have to take a drink of milk or water between every bite. Not the case with this awesome orange slice fruit cake recipe. It is so moist I promise you won’t be disappointed! No drink between bites is required or needed.
There are 2 camps on fruit cake. 1. Absolutely love it. 2. Absolutely hate it. In my opinion, there are 2 types of fruitcake as well. One made with dried fruit and nuts and one made with candied fruit and nuts. Many people profess their dislike of candied fruit. I on the other hand have a dislike of dried fruit and I absolutely love candied fruit, especially cherries. So this orange slice fruit cake was right up my alley.
Is It Really A Fruit Cake?
This fruitcake is a little different. The only fruit in it is candied cherries, chopped dates, and pureed pears. That’s it! It does have orange candy slices in it. Does that count as a fruit? It’s candy and only orange flavored.
I’m not really sure that I would call this a fruitcake per se. I have seen an orange slice cake recipe but it had no cherries in it.
I love this fruitcake and make it every year at Christmas. It has really become a tradition. Last year I searched everywhere for candied cherries and could not find them. So no fruitcake last year. I was so bummed.
I eventually found them in an Amish grocery store. I grabbed them right up. It was after Christmas but I made my cake anyway. I have always heard “Better late than never”.
I had searched and tried many different fruitcake recipes. There was one that had alcohol in it and you misted the cake every day for a month with alcohol. Nope, after it was all said and done, I didn’t care for it at all. In most of the recipes that I have tried, the cake was dry and this one was as well. Even with the alcohol.
Then about 10 years ago I came across this recipe and I never looked back. I have tried others since but I keep coming back to this one.
Use Buttermilk
I want to give you a tip about this fruitcake. It calls for buttermilk and it so happened that I forgot to buy any at the store. I know that many recipes state that you can substitute buttermilk with sour milk. So I did just that. Never again! The fruitcake just didn’t taste right and I ended up throwing the whole thing in the trash. I wish now that I had waited but I tend to be impatient. So please do not make this mistake.
Buttermilk, what is it? According to Wikipedia
When making this fruit cake make sure that you press down the batter into the pan and smooth the top
Orange Slice Fruit Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 cups pureed pears
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1 pound candy orange slices
- 2 cups chopped pecans
- 2 cups sweetened coconut
- 1 1/2 cups candied cherries
- 8 ounces chopped dates
- 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour, divided
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- In a large bowl combine candy slices, pecans, coconut, cherries, and chopped dates with 1 cup of the flour, make sure that all fruit and nuts are covered set aside
- In another bowl combine the baking soda, salt and the rest of the flour, set aside
- Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, pureed pears and buttermilk
- Add flour mixture and mix well
- Fold in Candy and druit mixture
- Pour mixture into a greased and floured 10 inch tube pan, make sure to press the mixture down into the pan and smooth the top
- Bake in a pre-heated 275 degree oven for 2 1/2 to 3 hours or until a toothpick inderted in the center comes out clean
- Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan. Cool completely on a wire rack.
Notes
Final Thoughts
If you do not like candied cherries or fall into the camp of disliking fruit cake then this recipe is not for you. But If you love candied cherries like I do and want a moist fruit cake as well then I encourage you to give this awesome orange slice fruit cake recipe a try. It is not only moist but it is delicious as well.
In most recipes, you are able to substitute sour milk for buttermilk. But not in this recipe. Please use buttermilk. Learn from my mistake. The sour milk changed the taste of the fruit cake and not for the good. The taste was so bad that I ended up throwing the whole thing in the trash. What a shame.
This orange slice fruit cake is not your typical dry fruit cake. Actually, the only fruit in it is candied cherries, chopped dates, and pureed pears.
Holiday baking? You might also like these Tropical SugarPlums
Please leave me a comment below with your thoughts. Do you like fruit cake?
And As Always
Have A Wonderful Day!
It looks delicious. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Thank you so much!
I have a question if you have a minute. Do you use fresh pears or canned pears to purée?
Hi,
I used canned pears. The original recipe called for applesauce and I didn’t have any on hand. But I did have a can of pears and used them instead. I find that I prefer the pears.
Tai:)