Orange Pineapple Walnut Fruitcake

Wait wait... don't go. What if I called this orange pineapple rum cake? Tropical cake?

It's difficult to think of another cake that so many people are negative towards. I'm not sure I know anyone who's a big fan of fruitcake. I certainly didn't grow up in a fruitcake-for-the-holidays house, although my dad always liked a good rum or whiskey cake. I told a couple people I was making fruitcake for my holiday dinner party and they said, so what other desserts are you baking?

I didn't have high hopes for this orange pineapple walnut fruitcake from Baked Occasions. Virtually every single ingredient category I object to in desserts is in this week's Baked Sunday Mornings selection. Chopped nuts and dried fruit chunks mar the beautiful texture of cake (and brownies and cookies), while a heavy dose of rum can blow out all the other flavors. But, as with all the Baked  desserts, my misgivings were unfounded and I actually liked it. Not enough to remake exactly the same recipe, but enough to indulge in a slice or two and consider making it again with just the rum.

Since my bias against chopped nuts in cake is pretty unshakeable, I decided to leave out the chopped walnuts entirely. There was no point in adding them when I knew I would pick them out while eating. Initially I thought I might grind them up and add them to the cake, but I worried that might ruin the cake structure. Since dried fruit and alcohol are what make fruitcake fruitcake, I told myself to have an open mind and have a little faith in the always successful Baked cakes.

Trader Joe's just reopened near me about 5 weeks ago and I've already been there at least 10 times.... including opening day. So naturally, I went there to buy my dried pineapple and my dark rum. I came home with a bag of dried baby sweet pineapple, wondering what I was going to do with the leftover pieces, and a bottle of Whaler's dark rum. I should have read the recipe more closely, because the bag contained less pineapple than I needed for the recipe (170g instead of 240g). But since it was late, below freezing, I was tired, and I doubted I was going to miss those 70g of pineapple, I didn't go back to TJ's for an eleventh time.

Baked's recipe for orange pineapple walnut cake is exceedingly simple. You don't even need a mixer. Just cook the orange juice, rum, and chopped dried pineapple together, then add sugar and butter, simmer till syrupy, and let it cool. Add the dry ingredients, then the orange zest, eggs, egg yolk, and vanilla. Fold in the walnuts (assuming you use them) and bake.

A few mistakes were made in the baking of this fruitcake. As sometimes happens in my kitchen at 10:30pm when I'm facing a 75 minute baking time and I still have not started the cake batter, I didn't dice the pineapple, since they were already "baby" pineapple. Unsurprisingly, they were so much heavier than the cake batter itself that all the pineapple pieces sank to the bottom. Also, I've been baking so many cookies at 350 F over the last few weeks that I somehow read this cake as requiring a 350 oven as well. It doesn't. It's supposed to bake at 325 F. It wasn't until 47 minutes into baking that I realized my mistake, when the cake smelled quite quite done and the top was getting close to too dark but the timer still had 30 minutes on it. At that point, it was way too late at night to start over, so I crossed my fingers, turned the heat down to 325 F, and baked another 8-9 minutes until the center tested clean. (I didn't need to bake it that long - it was a touch overdone.) I let the orange pineapple fruitcake cool 15 minutes, poked holes in the top with a fork because I have no skewers, poured the rum on top, covered all but a small section, and went to sleep. After letting it sit, fully covered, for about 42 hours, I inverted the fruitcake onto a plate, flipped it back over so the fork holes would be hidden by the glaze, and poured the rum icing on it. The icing set for another hour or two before I served it.

I'm not sure this fruitcake won anyone over to become a full-time fruitcake lover, but everyone who tried it liked it. It's warm and buttery and tastes lightly spiced. The uncut baby pineapples were very boozy, but not in a bad way. Everyone also agreed the amount of rum was perfect for the cake - not overpowering, but definitely present (especially in the icing).

Head over to Baked Sunday Mornings for the recipe and to see what other bakers thought of this orange pineapple walnut fruitcake.