How Many Calories in Fruitcake?

Fruitcake is the butt of many jokes. Like fruitcakes as paperweights. Fruitcake football. The tradition of re-gifting the fruitcake that Grandma always brings. And that rumor that fruitcake lasts forever (it doesn't.)

It's one of the few foods that is better known as a joke than a food. Most people I know haven't ever tried fruitcake before, so they have no idea what it tastes like.

But lots of people who eat fruitcake love it just as intensely as the mockers mock it. Fruitcake fans feel that this dense loaf of fruit and nuts in cake has gotten a bad reputation for no good reason. For the fruitcake lovers out there, a quiz:

How Many Calories in a slice of fruitcake?
A) 200
B) 275
C) 375
D) 700

The correct answer is B) 275 calories. Yes, that's a hefty hunk of calories to add to a meal, but fruitcake does offer health benefits including fiber and protein. If you like fruitcake, maybe instead of adding it to an already filling meal as a dessert, try it as a holiday afternoon snack?

Best Chocolate Chip Fruitcake

This chocolate chip fruitcake might just tip the scale in favour of fruitcakes again. It is quick and easy to make and can be served straight from the oven.

Try this quick and easy chocolate chip fruitcake. The flavor of the chocolate complements the traditional fruitcake ingredients and makes a treat that everybody will enjoy. The fruit cake can be served immediately or stored in the fridge for up to a month.

Best Chocolate Chip Fruitcake Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup soft butter
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
¼ cup sweet sherry
2 ½ cups cake flour
½ cup cocoa powder
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup roughly chopped pecan nuts or wall nuts
½ cup chopped or whole red cherries or a mixture of red and green cherries soaked overnight in ½ cup sweet sherry.
1 cup seedless raisins
1 cup sultanas
¼ cup currants
More sherry to sprinkle over cake

Method

Preheat oven to 300° F.
Use either a large ring pan (9.5 inch in diameter) or two bread pans (9x4x2.5 inches). Grease the pans and line it with baking paper. Grease the exposed side of the baking paper.
Combine butter and sugar and mix thoroughly. Add eggs one by one while stirring. Add sherry and stir. Add flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Mix again. Add chocolate chips, nuts, raisins, sultanas and currants and mix until thoroughly combined.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan or pans, filling it almost to the top. Smooth out the top of the mixture with a spoon.
Put the pan or pans on a cookie baking plate to protect the bottom from the heat below and cover loosely with some aluminium foil.
Bake for 1 hour at 300° F, remove the foil and bake another 15-20 minutes, depending on the size of the pans (longer for a larger pan), until brown.
Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes on a wire rack.
Invert the pan to remove the cake and lightly sprinkle with more sherry.
Allow to cool, serve immediately or wrap in foil and keep in the fridge for up to a month.
The cake is moist enough to serve as it is but can also be served with whipped cream. Add one to two drops of vanilla and 3 teaspoons of sugar to the cold cream before whipping.

This recipe produces approximately 20 portions.

To enlarge the recipe: do not mix more than double the recipe at a time. If more pans are placed in the oven, ensure a space of at least 1 inch between pans for adequate warm air circulation.

This cake freezes well. To defrost, take out of the freezer and thaw for approximately 24 hours.