Name: Fruit and Nut Whole wheat Loaf Cake
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 1 h 15 min
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 1
Cuisine: Global
Ingredients: 1/3 cup Slivered Almonds; 1/3 cup Cashews; 1/3 cup Walnuts; 1/3 cup Black Raisins; 1/3 cup Dried Cranberries; 1/3 cup Golden raisins; 3/4 cup brown sugar; 1/2 cup water; 1/4 cup butter; 1/2 cinnamon stick; 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg powder; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1/2 cup Tutti frutti(Optional); 1 cup orange juice; 1 tablespoon Orange peel; 2 eggs or 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce; 1 and 1/2 cups Whole wheat flour; 1 teaspoon Baking Soda; 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

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This fruit and nut cake has a special place in my heart and I get really nostalgic around the holidays. We used to celebrate Christmas with one of close friends when we were little. They used to make this awesome fruit and nut cake, which was called plum cake, I have no idea why but it might be because plum cake means a cake made using raisins, prunes and grapes, etc. Growing up, we did not have much access to alcohol(mainly rum) in India. So, the fruits and nuts in this cake were usually soaked in grape or orange juice. That made this cake super duper juicy, soft and scrumptious! In this recipe, I have taken the inspiration from the Christmas plum cake. I skipped the alcohol/rum and made a soft and delicious Fruit and nut cake with whole wheat flour. Its takes little time to make this cake as there is no soaking involved. But, it tastes just as delicious as the Christmas Plum cake and your whole house smells like Christmas, I promise! 🎄

How is this cake made healthy?

I love this cake as this packs healthy ingredients in a colorful way. I use about 1 cup of nuts and 1 cup of dried fruits and whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour which adds more fiber and nutrition to your cake. We are also using freshly squeezed orange juice to add natural sweetness to our cake instead of lots of sugar. We are also using brown sugar instead of processed white sugar. Replacing the brown sugar with coconut sugar or Monk fruit sweetener makes it even more healthy. You can use your choice of dried fruits and nuts, it just have to be 2 cups of mixed nuts and fruits.

cross section of fruit and nut cake loaded with dry fruits and nuts.

What main ingredients are used in the fruit and nut whole wheat cake?

Dried fruits: We are using about 1 cup of mixed dried fruits in here. A mixture of golden raisins, black raisins and dried cranberries. You can use apricots, dates, figs anything you like.
Mixed Nuts: I like using whatever nuts I have on hand. I even put pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds in there sometimes. This time I used Almonds, walnuts and cashews.
Oranges: I love the bright flavors and tones of orange in my dessert, it cuts down the sugar and makes it aromatic. I use both the peel and the juice in my cake. It completely optional, you can use water instead.
Whole wheat flour: Whole wheat flour has the necessary gluten to hold all the nuts and fruit pieces together. If you want to use 1/2 a cup of oat flour, its completely fine.
Brown Sugar: Brown sugar gives that awesome caramelized taste to the cake, using white sugar works too. If you want to make this cake healthier, use coconut sugar or monk fruit sweetener.
Tutti Frutti: And lastly Tutti frutti, I love the popping colors and the candied texture of tutti frutti. This tutti frutti is made using white part of watermelon, I made it over the summer and froze it. You can use any candied fruit or simply avoid using it. If you want to make the watermelon tutti frutti, let me know in the comments, I will post the directions for you. You can also use dried Fruit mix.

Oranges, almonds, tutti frutti, black raisins, walnuts, golden raisins, dried cranberries, cashews all labelled.

How to make the fruit and nut whole wheat loaf cake?

Its so easy, honestly! You just need to boil the dry fruits and nuts to make them plump up, let the mixture cool down, add the dry ingredients and bake into a cake. Let me get into details.

First, take a big sauce pan and add brown sugar, water, butter, salt and turn on the heat. Keep adding ingredients while the mixture is heating up.
Add Orange peel chopped into tiny pieces or orange Zest, cinnamon stick and nutmeg powder. Add cranberries, raisins and nuts and bring it to a boil.
Once the mixture is boiled, add tutti frutti and turn off the heat. I do this so that the color of tutti frutti doesn’t transfer to other elements in the cake.

While the mixture cools down, prep the other things. Squeeze out orange juice. Preheat the oven to 350 degree F. Whisk 2 eggs and spray and line your 9×5 loaf cake pan with avocado oil spray and parchment paper. I like leaving long raised edges on my parchment paper so that its easy to lift up and cut the cake.

Prepping the loaf cake pan and squeezing the orange juice.

When the nut mixture cools down, discard the cinnamon stick and add orange juice, eggs and whole wheat flour, baking soda and vanilla extract. Mix it all gently until the flour is entirely incorporated.
Pour the batter in the prepared loaf pan and bake for 50-60 minutes or until the toothpick inserted comes out clean. Topping with oats is completely optional.

How do we store this cake?

This cakes stays perfect at room temperature for 2-3 days. It can also be stored for a week in the refrigerator. This cake freezes really well and can be stored for up to 2 months in the freezer wrapped up in a plastic wrap.

Yield: A loaf cake