Skip the boring fruit cake and make these tasty Fruit Cake Bites instead! They’re easy to make and they’re a fun and festive treat!
Fruit cake has a bit of a negative reputation, and it’s often the butt of holiday jokes. But forget the sterotypes- this dessert can be fun and festive! Fruit Cake Bites truly are a quirky bout of fun. They resemble anything like traditional Fruit Cake, but looks can be deceiving. On the inside of these bite-size squares, you have a moist cake rich with cinnamon, brown sugar, raisins, and chopped cherries.
If you like these, be sure to try these blueberries in dark chocolate, too!
Why You Will Love These Fruit Cake Bites
- Bite-sized
- Chocolate outside
- Zesty and sweet
- Easy to prepare in batches
Hands down one of the best homemade fruit cake recipes you’ll find, our Fruit Cake Bites takes dullness out of the fruit cake equation and hits you with notes of orange juice, vanilla, pecans, and ginger! Like our Christmas Sugar Cookies Fudge, I want to put a spin on a traditional holiday favorite.
For these Fruit Cake Bites, I went with orange zest for a citrusy flavoring that would blend with the array of spices in Fruit Cake- and the pairing works! When placed alongside the dates, you get a sweet blend and when blending with cinnamon and ginger you get warm complimentary notes that are not competing.
The same goes for the red and green cherries, which at first, I thought was not a wise decision, but when creamed with the sugar and butter, has such a rich taste that it makes you want to eat the mix right off the spoon.
How to Make Fruit Cake Bites
EQUIPMENT NEEDED
Before getting started you will need the following on hand:
- 9 x 13 baking pan
- Parchment paper
- Baking spray
- Mixing bowls
- Spatula
- Whisk
- Metal slotted spoon
As well as a toothpick, knife, and cooling rack.
INSTRUCTIONS
For full instructions, please view the recipe card below:
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Line the baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.
- Using a mixing bowl and a whisk, whisk together your ingredients until creamed.
- Pour the batter into your baking dish and bake for approximately 1 hour or until moist.
- Once done, allow to cool on a cooling rack before slicing into 35 1-inch square.
- Next, dip each square into your melted chocolate and then immediately transfer to your parchment paper.
- Place in fridge to allow to stiffen or place back on the cooling rack.
A simple Fruit Cake recipe doesn’t have to be boring or bland. Our holiday Fruit Cake Bites are a perfect example of what you can create! From here, you can set them out on a platter or drizzle them with additional toppings!
Tips
Now, the thing I do want to mention is the prepping of this dish 1 to 2 days before serving. This is because the 6 seasonings, plus orange juice and sugar need a chance to settle into the cake, making it much better the next day after it has settled.
Also, consider storing in the fridge as this dish tastes heavenly after being chilled for a few hours- double if you pair it with a caramel drizzle.
Lastly, during your prep work, we recommend not to over mix the batter. It is understandable should you feel you need to overmix to fully blend all the ingredients but trust me- a minute or two of each step will be all that you need to make these Fruit Cake Bites turn out perfect.
And should you want to leave out the pecans, that’s not a problem! You can prepare this Fruit Cake without nuts without the risk of losing any flavor.
One of the best Fruit Cake recipes ever to have been created, you will be glad you stumbled across this treat- and p.s., so will your guests!
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Fruit Cake Bites
Description
Skip the boring fruit cake and make these tasty Fruit Cake Bites instead! They’re easy to make and they’re a fun and festive treat!
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon cloves
- 10 tablespoons butter (room temperature)
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 4 eggs (save 2 yolks!)
- 2 yolks
- ⅓ cup orange juice
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- zest of 1 orange
- 1 cup chopped dates
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 cup chopped green cherries
- 1 cup chopped red cherries
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 4 cups chocolate chips (melted)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Line the bottom of a 9×13 baking pan with parchment paper and gently spray with baking spray.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cloves and set aside.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together the butter, sugar and brown sugar until smooth and creamy.
- Add in the eggs and egg yolks and mix to combine.
- Whisk in the orange juice, milk, vanilla and orange zest until fully incorporated.
- Mix the flour mixture in just until combined. Fold in the dates, raisins, green cherries, red cherries and pecans.
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan.
- Place into the preheated oven to bake for one hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with moist crumbs.
- Once the fruit cake has baked, remove from the oven and place onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Once cooled, remove the fruit cake from the pan and slice into 35 – 1 inch squares.
- Dip each square into the melted chocolate to coat ensuring that any excess chocolate drips back into the bowl.
- Place onto a sheet of parchment paper to allow chocolate to harden. Top each square with a half slice of red and green cherry, if desired.
- Place the chocolate-covered bites into the fridge to set up more quickly.
Notes
- When making this bread, it is very cake-like so do not over mix the batter once you have added the flour as this will cause the gluten to overdevelop which can cause the cake to become rubbery instead of tender.
- These fruit cake bites are very delicious when they are cold so I recommend serving them somewhat chilled.
- Fruit cake is generally far more delicious on the second day as the spices as well as the fruits have had time to mix and all of the flavors become more congruent and rich.
