Light Fruitcake with Marzipan and Brandy Frosting

Slices of light fruitcake served on dessert plates.

5 from 2 votes

Light Fruitcake with Marzipan and Brandy Frosting

Learn how to make an almond-flavoured light fruitcake cake with this easy family recipe! This Christmas cake is topped with a layer of marzipan and brandy frosting for a delicious, festive treat!

Prep Time1

Cook Time1 30

Total Time2 30

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: British

Servings:

Calories: 586kcal

Author: Janice Lawandi

Equipment

Ingredients

For the fruitcake

450 grams golden raisins or sultana raisins
115 grams candied citron
225 grams glacéed cherries green and red, quartered or diced
115 grams candied pineapple diced
600 grams bleached all-purpose flour
10 mL baking powder
345 grams unsalted butter softened
450 grams granulated sugar
4 large egg(s)
5 mL pure almond extract
250 mL whole milk (3.25 % fat)

For the frosting and garnishes

230 grams unsalted butter room temperature
60 mL brandy
10 mL pure vanilla extract
560 grams icing sugar plus more for rolling out the marzipan
500 grams marzipan
~5 glacéed cherries red and/or green, optional for decorating

Metric - US

Instructions

To make the fruitcakes

Preheat the oven to 325 °F (165 °C). Grease and flour two 9x5 loaf pans, lining the bottom with a piece of parchment paper, or grease and flour two sets of muffin pans (24 muffins total), or whatever pans you'd like to use. Set the pans asked.
Place the raisins in a medium bowl and pour 500 mL (2 cups) boiling water to cover them completely. Then let them soak for 15–20 minutes until softened before straining and patting them dry.
In a large bowl, stir together the rehydrated raisins and candied fruits. Add a few heaping tablespoons of the total amount of flour and stir it in so that all the fruits are coated with flour.
Whisk the baking powder into the rest of the flour. Set the dry ingredients aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing and scraping down the sides of the bowl between each addition.
Add the almond extract and mix again.
Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.
When the flour is completely incorporated add the flour-coated fruits and mix on low til they are evenly dispersed throughout the batter.
Divide the batter among the loaf pans and/or muffin cups and bake the loaves for about 1.5 hours and the muffins for about 30 minutes, until a cake tester poked through the center of the batter (not through the fruit) comes out clean.
Let them cool slightly before unmolding to cool completely.

To make the frosting and marzipan

Prepare the frosting by beating together the butter, brandy, vanilla and powdered sugar until it is nice and smooth. Add as much powdered sugar as needed to obtain the desired consistency.
Roll out the marzipan blocks using powdered sugar until it is ¼ cm (~0.1 inches) thick. Cut into rectangles to fit the top of your loaf cakes or cut out with round cookie cutters for the muffins. We are only covering the tops of the fruitcakes with marzipan.
Top each fruitcake with marzipan. You can use a dollop of frosting to glue it down.
Cover the marzipan with frosting and garnish with a sliver of glacéed cherry.

Notes

Coating the fruit in flour prevents the fruit from sinking to the bottom of the fruitcake.
Fruitcake recipes like this one tend to make a lot of cake. We always split the batter between several pans because there is so much of it. I most often bake this recipe in one to two loaf pans and muffin pans. Be sure to butter the pans and dust them with flour to ensure the cakes don't stick.
Bake fruitcake at a lower oven temperature than other cakes (325 °F/160 °C instead of 350 °F/175 °C) for longer to make them slightly moister and to prevent the fruit from burning.
The baking time will vary according to the pans you choose to bake this recipe in. Bake this fruitcake recipe until the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan and the edges are evenly browned. Based on my experience and reader comments
- Fruitcake loaves: split the batter between TWO greased and floured loaf pans and bake for about 1 hour 30 minutes.
- Individual mini or cupcake fruitcakes: divide the batter between greased and floured standard 1-cup muffin pans and bake for about 30 minutes
- Sheet cake fruitcake: spread the batter in a greased and floured 9x13-inch (23x33 cm) pan and bake for 1 hour 20 minutes.
- Tube pan fruitcake: spread half the batter per greased and floured tube pan and then bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes
Depending on how much frosting you want on your fruitcake (whether you cover just the top or the top and sides of your cakes, you may need more frosting, so have extras of these ingredients at room temperature just in case.

Nutrition