This Pineapple Christmas cake recipe is well known to New Zealanders, and has been ever since our pre-eminent chef Alison Holst first made it on national television 30 years ago.
It has received thousands of positive reviews and comments over the years and many look to it as the tried and true ‘go-to’ Christmas cake.
Given its rave reviews I didn’t want to mess about too much with the original recipe, though I did get creative with the fruit mix. Instead of just adding the pineapple and juice to the mixed fruit, I also added orange zest, orange juice and a good dash of orange liqueur. I figured you couldn’t go wrong with a more distinct orange flavour and that the extra liquid would simply make the fruit juicier and plumper (which it did).
This was my first go at Christmas cake and I was rather apprehensive to say the least. But, in the end, despite the looming threat of failure and, with it, a huge waste of expensive ingredients, it proved quick and easy to make. And just to make double-sure that it was everything you want in a Christmas cake, I took a tiny core sample out of the middle of the cake (it’ll be covered with icing later anyway) and guess what? It was the most flavoursome, moist piece of fruit cake I think I’d ever eaten. So the accolades that Alison Holst receives for this cake are well deserved.
I used a heavy-duty 21cm square (8cm deep) cake tin and the mixture fitted in perfectly. As you can see, it’s one hefty cake and should do the family and guests pretty darn generously.
A quick note – December 2016: Just letting you know that this year I’ve made an alternative cake to the Pineapple Christmas Cake. It’s a Hazelnut Christmas Cake which is absolutely delicious, and my new personal favourite. It’s darker and richer than the pineapple cake and beautifully flavoured with Frangelico liqueur. Check it out here.
Pineapple Christmas Cake
Ingredients
- 3.3 lb mixed fruit
- 1 lb can crushed pineapple in juice
- Zest of 1-2 oranges
- ½ cup orange juice or orange liqueur (or combination of the two)
- 3 cups high grade (bread) flour
- 1 tsp each cinnamon and mixed spice
- 1 tsp ground cloves
- 8 oz butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tsp each vanilla, almond and lemon essences
- 6 large eggs
For decoration (if you don’t plan to ice the cake/s):
- 1.5 oz each glace cherries and blanched almonds
Instructions
- The day before mixing the cake, put the dried fruit, undrained pineapple, orange zest, orange juice and liqueur (if using) in a large, preferably non-stick fry pan. Cover the pan and heat until the liquid boils, then simmer until all the liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally. Leave in the pan overnight (I left mine for 3 days to give the fruit more time to absorb the liquid), or until cold.
- Next day: Prepare the tin/s. Line with a double layer of baking paper. For extra protection, you can wrap a further layer or two of brown paper or damp newspaper around the edges of the cake pan/s so the sides don’t dry out.
- Mix the flour and spices together and put aside. In a very large bowl, cream the butter, sugar and essences until light. Beat in eggs one at a time, adding 2 tablespoons of the spiced flour with each egg. Stir in prepared (cold) fruit mix and remaining spiced flour. If mixture seems too soft, add extra flour until mixture just drops from the spoon. Put into the baking pan/s, leveling the tops. Decorate with blanched almonds and cherries if you don’t plan to ice the cake/s.
- Bake the 23cm cake at 150°C (300°F) for 1 ½ hours, then 130°C (265°F) for about 2 hours longer (this will depend on your oven, but mine was cooked exactly in the time suggested). Bake the 18cm cakes at 140°C (280°F) for 1 hour, then at 130°C (265°F) for about an hour longer. Bake mini cakes at 130°C (265°F) for about 1 ½ hours. Once the top of the cake is browned sufficiently (may be anywhere between half way or two thirds of the way in), you can lightly place some foil over the top to prevent further browning.
- The cake is cooked when a skewer pushed to the base of the middle of the cake comes out clean. Upon removing the cake from the oven, and while it’s still hot, you can brush it with extra liqueur if you like. Remove cake/s from pan/s when cold.
- Decorate as you please, either with royal icing or simply with blanched almonds and/or glace cherries.
- If storing, for best flavour and texture, wrap the cake/s in two layers of greaseproof paper, then two layers of foil (or you can use tea towels) and leave to stand in a cool place for a few weeks. If preferred, wrap the cake/s in plastic bags and refrigerate or freeze. Do not leave cake/s in sealed plastic bags at room temperature, since they may become mouldy if the temperature fluctuates.
Yum! I’ve never tried a pineapple christmas cake!
It’s really like a normal Christmas cake – it just has pineapple added to it which makes it more moist. Can’t wait to cut into it!
i love fruitcake. it looks wonderful!
Thank you!
Waw, very nice looking cake and very different from what I am used to, but sounds delicious! 😉
Thanks – it’s extremely popular over here in NZ.
Interesting to know..;)
luks delicioso, have been hunting for nz fruit cake recipe,will certainly try this n let you know thanks for sharing!!
Great! Hope you enjoy.
Susan just double checking No leavening agent? Such as baking powder, baking soda? Anxious to try this!
Hi, nice to hear from you Bonnie. No, no leavening agent like baking powder or soda. If you click through to the original recipe posted by New Zealand’s foremost cook, you’ll see that they’re not in the list of ingredients. The cake isn’t meant to rise; it’s a very dense fruit cake. Hope it works well for you!