Easy Fruit Cake

This fruit cake breaks all the usual rules: no butter, no oil, and no egg yolks anywhere in sight.

Applesauce does all the heavy lifting, keeping the crumb moist and tender while 2 ½ cups of mixed dried fruit bring the sweetness, chewiness, and that dense, jeweled texture a proper fruit cake needs.

The fruit gets simmered with the applesauce and sugar first, which softens everything and builds a concentrated, syrupy base before it ever meets the flour.

Baked low and slow, it comes out with a crackly brown sugar top and a tight, fruit-packed crumb that slices beautifully. This is the kind of fruit cake people actually want to eat, not regift.

Pro Tips

• Let the fruit mixture cool completely before adding the egg whites and flour. Hot batter will cook the egg whites on contact.
• The skewer test won’t come out perfectly clean with this much fruit in the batter. Aim for no wet batter clinging to it, but sticky fruit residue is normal.
• Wrap the cooled cake tightly in plastic and let it sit for a day before slicing. The flavors deepen overnight.

Variations

• Boozy soak: Brush the warm cake with brandy or rum for a traditional holiday fruit cake that improves with age.
• Spiced version: Add a teaspoon each of cinnamon and mixed spice to the flour for a warmer, more aromatic holiday cake.