Forget the heavy traditional fruit cake. This year impress your friends and family with this light no-bake Christmas fruit cake.
Thanks to Whole Foods Market and Kitchen PLAY for sponsoring this post.
Christmas is by far my favorite time of the year. Ever since I was a little girl I helped my mom organize the Christmas dinner party. My favorite thing to do was decorate the Christmas cake. My mom used to make a few desserts for Christmas. Every year she would change the menu but a few things always stayed the same. A chocolate cake, roll cake and her famous Christmas layer cake. Now, being thousands of miles away from my mom, I need to make my own family Christmas tradition. Blend some of my own heritage, stir in some American touches and we’re set.
For the past couple of years I have tried different recipes for the classic fruitcake. Some were OK, some were terrible. I was still looking for the one!
That is, until a couple of weeks ago when it hit me! I don’t have to make a heavy, booze flavored fruit cake when I can keep the basics and make one I know my family will enjoy. For my no-bake Christmas fruitcake I kept the dried fruit, the nuts and the spirits. I prefer to soak my fruit in wine, but you can also use a brandy or liquor of your choice. If you’re planning on sharing the cake with the little ones, please soak the fruit in 100% juice of your choice.
For this cake I used Pacific almond mix and Backcountry Bundle from Whole Foods Market. I prefer the pacific almond mix since it offers a variety of dried fruit but at the same time I love Backcountry Bundle since it has plenty of dried cranberries, just perfect for the touch of color in this cake.
While you’re at Whole Foods Market, grab a container of classic chocolate chip cookies too. And a bottle of Port wine or whatever spirit you prefer.
You’ll also need some heavy cream and powdered sugar.
That’s all! Just 6 ingredients needed!
This year Whole Foods Market is helping you celebrate the holidays, with hundreds of products made to help you get through the season without stressing too much. For instance, these bags of pre-chopped dried fruit helped me put this cake together is no time.
Since this cake doesn’t require any baking, the crumbled store-bought chocolate chip cookies substituted for the cake layer offering not only support for the creamy layers but also adding some crunchy texture. For a spicy touch I added a pinch of ground ginger to the heavy cream. You can leave it out or use a spice of your choice.
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It’s pretty simple. Join me and a handful or food bloggers for a Twitter Party on December 10th at 7pm EST. Follow the #wfmholiday hashtag.
Our goal is to help make your holiday meal-planning a snap thanks to Whole Foods Market “Buy Some, Make Some,” holiday program. From crowd-pleasing appetizers to delicious dessert shortcuts, we’ll show you how Whole Foods Market can help simplify your menu planning and help you create delicious holiday memories!
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Love,
Roxana
I’ve always been so hesitant to make fruitcake because it seems so ingredient-heavy, but this version sounds perfect! Love that it’s no-bake, too. 🙂
This is definitely not your ordinary fruit cake! It looks pretty amazing!!
Hi, can I used whipping cream instead of the heavy cream? At the moment that is all I have at home and since I cannot wait to try this out, was wondering if I can used whipping cream instead! Thanks
Hi Romina,
Whipping cream and heavy cream are the same thing.
Please come back and tell me how you like it
Roxana
Love this idea. A definite twist on the traditional cheesecake. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Yum, what a great way to use some prepared foods to help make the holiday season stress-free!
I do love a good no bake recipe, that is for sure! What a great way to use chocolate chip cookies! Besides eating them, of course. 🙂 Your cake is gorgeous! This is going on my to do list.
Wow, that is a wonderful fruit cake, definitely better than the baked variety in my opinion.
Roxana, this looks way better than any fruitcake I’ve ever seen!
Wow Roxana! This looks amazing! I’m wishing I could reach right into my computer and take a bite! This is going on my must-make list for the holidays!
Such a pretty cake and I love that it’s no=bake!
This looks like the perfect wrap up to a Christmas dinner. Thank you!!
Hi, really want to try this, but wanted to clarify – by freezing you mean putting it in freezer, not just chilling in the fridge?
Hi Liene,
I actually put the cake in the freezer, just like I would do with an ice cream cake.
Roxana
There is nothing in this that resembles an actual fruitcake, which makes it sound (and look) so wonderful.
I was wondering, once you take the cake out of the freezer and prepare it to serve, do you leave the cake on the plastic wrap or do you transfer it to another dish? I’m only wondering because when you go to slice it and the plastice wrap is still on the bottom would you risk cutting that too?
Hi Autumn,
Once the cake is frozen, it’s very easy to transfer from one dish to another. This way you can remove the plastic wrap without worrying you’ll ruin the cake
Happy Holidays,
Roxana
could I use fresh fruit. I have 4 kinds of fresh fruit.
Hi Jackie,
You can not use fresh fruit. Due to the high water content in the fresh fruit, the cake will not hold together. It will be too water-y