Shop at Trader Joe's for best prices on dried fruits. I think I used ground allspice. As for substitutes, I don't think it'll matter a whole lot, but I really liked those fruits in the cake. I don't think that more currants and raisins are a good substitute, because it's the variety that is so lovely. This is such a wonderful cake, I'd try to follow the recipe the first time and then make substitutions the next time.

I happen to be a big fan of fruitcake (weird, I know :-)) but because of my British background, I lean heavily toward the dense, dark and very richly fruity UK style of fruitcake rather than the lighter, less fruity and more large chunked glace cherries-type US version.

IME, you can use any dried fruit you like - currants, raisins, dates, sultanas, apricots, cherries, craisins, etc. Just make sure they are all chopped to about the same size and properly plumped before adding to the mix. If it were me, I'd add the dried cranberries (craisins). They add a sharpness that contrasts nicely against the sweetness and they can be used in countless other dishes and will never go to waste. I would also include candied citrus peel for the same reason.

Also, I'd make it early enough to be able to let the cake 'age' and be doused with a suitable amount of brandy .

Traditional English Fruit Cake Recipe

Party, those fruits all sound delicious in the cake.

I have to admit that I like the English version too. The Sierra Nut House (in Clovis, CA) makes a densler one that I like to buy every year.

Yes, you can sustitute freely. I omit and replace currants entirely with dates, figs, papaya and my favorite……….. dried strawberries.

Google some UK Christmas cake recipes. You might find a mix you like better. It is a dense cake that keeps for a long time.

Anyone else unable to see OP's recipe at the link? It just goes to a website, not a specific recipe.

floral, it goes to the recipe for me. I'm on a laptop using Firefox.

Flora, I don't get the recipe either.

When I click the link it goes right to the recipe.

You can 'net search Alton Brown's fruitcake and it should come right up (he calls it Free Range Fruitcake)

Update: Ok...IDK about this one... usually if I don't like the batter I won't like the cake, and I didn't like the batter. Too boozy...much too boozy and no noticeable sweetness, the fruits were rather bitter (I'm guessing from all the zest - ?). I've nothing to lose by aging it and tasting it in a few weeks, maybe the flavor will magically morph into something my palate will like, but if I had to judge it today I'd say it's a loser.

“Boozy”? Alton Brown’s fruitcake? Granted, you macerate the fruit in rum but cooking it in the unfiltered apple juice when making the batter removes that. Or, that’s been my impression.

That doesn't seem like a lot of zest. You didn't use the entire peel, did you?

Your results are certainly different from mine. Did you do other substitutions/alterations to the recipe?

Not the entire peel, just the zest.

No alterations others than didn't use the candied ginger, and substituted other dried fruits for the currants and blueberries.

Oh yea -- it was boozy...

https://altonbrown.com/recipes/free-range-fruitcake/

From the picture it looks extremely dense. More so than a traditional British fruit cake, even a rich Christmas version.

I wrapped it up in some brandy-soaked cheesecloth (more booze - HA!), plastic wrap and foil.

I used to make an English-style fruitcake a long time ago -- I loved it (also wrapped in brandy-soaked cheesecloth for storage). Maybe after a couple weeks of mellowing this one will taste just fine. I'll cut it on Thanksgiving and report back.

I looked up this recipe and the instant I saw the picture, without even looking at the instructions I thought "That's a boiled fruit cake." Boiled fruitcakes are denser and moister than regular British rich fruit cake.

You're right. It's a boiled fruit cake. I didn't actually read the method. I tend to stop at the first mention of cups.

I would like to make both of these recipes, but I do not have the right size pan for the British version - I would have to use a tube pan or else a loaf pan. Right now, my kitchen items are mostly in storage because I am in the middle of a kitchen renovation, and my kitchen cabinets will be demolished on Thursday (Nov 21), with new cabinets installed the next day - countertops will probably take up to two weeks after that, but I do not have a firm date yet.

Anyway, I bought a fruitcake from Collins Street Bakery in Corsicana, Texas, and it was delivered last week. I have already started putting rum and Amaretto on it. I bought it so that we could have it for Thanksgiving - last year I bought one for Christmas because our sister was going to visit us then. I grew up about 85 miles south of Corsicana and remember fruitcakes that were like the ones I buy from there.

For Alton Brown's recipe, I would substitute dates for the dried apricots because I do not like dried apricot, and I do not like apricot jam either, although I do like fresh apricots, which are plentiful here in the summer, as well as plucots, which I like better. I have some dates that have gotten dehydrated, and I think I could use those. Currently I use them when I cook steel cut oats, but I also add apple or dehydrated apple to that.

For the English cake, the only change I might make would be to substitute Frangelico for the vanilla, to enhance the hazelnut flavor. I frequently substitute liqueurs for vanilla in recipes in order to get different flavors, unless I especially want a vanilla flavor.

Fwiw we would distinguish between a Christmas cake and a fruit cake, the former being richer. An English Christmas cake would not contain hazel nuts, cranberries or vanilla. It would have almonds, vine fruits and spices. This recipe is typical. https://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/occasions/christmas/christmas-lunch-on-a-budget/traditional-christmas-fruit-cake

A Christmas cake can be square or round but never a loaf, whereas an everyday fruit cake can be. I make mine in a rectangular wooden box, a tip give me years ago by a chef. The low conductivity stops the sides of the cake drying out or burning during the very long cooking time. To feed the cake I place it upside down and stab it with a skewer. The booze is then poured over and can penetrate the cake. I've never heard of using booze soaked cheesecloth. It sounds messy and I don't see how the alcohol could penetrate such a dense cake before it evaporates.

@floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK, wrap the soaked cheesecloth covering the fruitcake in plastic wrap to keep the alcohol from evaporating.

My mother used to wrap her fruitcake in a brandy soaked cheesecloth and then place it in a tin, but I could never see the point, when it’s easier and less messy to just pour the brandy over the cake an let it seep in. I do substitute some dried cranberries for some of the sultanas in my fruit cake as DH prefers them.

Lars, it’s just me, but I’m trying to imagine the texture of dates in a fruit cake and it doesn’t feel right to me. the texture of the fruit really needs to be firmer than the usual texture of dates.

I have some dates that have gotten very dry and hard over time. Anyway, I much prefer the flavor of dates to apricots, and that's what really matters.

I guess I won't be making any of the English versions, since I dislike restrictions and prefer to make my own versions. Also, I do not have the right pan.

I prefer fruitcake with pecans instead of almonds, although I do like hazelnuts.

Obviously you can put anything you like in a cake. But if there is a traditional style food with a specific name then you need to stick to the spirit of the recipe. There are historic reasons why the ingredients are as they are. I wouldn't call it a restriction. But if you alter the recipe radically you're not making the same cake. You're making something else.

My fruitcake has always had chopped dates in it. Also pecans and rum.

As promised, I am reporting back. I have to eat my words on this one...

I cut the fruitcake yesterday for Thanksgiving after it had aged about 3 weeks -- and it was fantastic! Very dense and moist, and the edge softened quite a bit on the booziness. Some of my guests asked to take a couple slices home, so that tells me right there it was enjoyed.

So yea -- this is a recipe that really does get better with age, as noted on the instructions.

Typically, the fruitcake I bake one year will be eaten the next. I have aged them 3-4 years before eating but you need to keep them well spritzed and not let them dry out.

Can you spritz with something other than alcohol? I have no problrm cooking with the rum, but my husband cannot have any alcohol, so the soaking in brandy or rum is out.

"Can you spritz with something other than alcohol?"

From what I've read in a different cake cookbook, it's the alcohol that does the preserving, so it seems not but I actually don't know for certain.