White Claw Hard Seltzer Christmas Fruit Loaf

Photo of completed White Claw Hard Seltzer Christmas Fruit Loaf

Traditional Christmas fruit cakes are prepared by feeding them alcohol and aging them for several weeks before serving. These Christmas fruit loaves are light, less sweet, and mild, with only a slight amount of alcohol. There is no brandy or whiskey in this loaf of bread; instead, it contains a small amount of cherry-flavored "White Claw Hard Seltzer!" You can barely taste the alcohol.Great to enjoy a slice or two with a cup of hot coffee or tea. It can be enjoyed right away on the same day, or even better, the next day!

Ingredients A:

  • ¼ Cup Chopped Mixed Dried Cherries,Raisins & Cranberries (Your choice of 3 mixed fruits)
  • ⅛ Cup Whole Mixed Cashews & Walnuts (Your choice of 2 mixed nuts)
  • ¼ Cup White Claw Hard Seltzer Black Cherry (Or any fruity hard seltzer of your choice)

Instructions for Ingredients A:

  1. Preheat the oven at 340 degrees F.
  2. Combine everything in “ingredients A” in a bowl. Stir and mix until combined. Set aside.

Ingredients B:

  • 2 Large Eggs
  • ¾ Cup Unsalted Butter (Melted)
  • ¾ Cup Warm Milk
  • ¾ Cup Light Brown Sugar (Firmly packed)
  • 1 ½ Teaspoons Vanilla Extract

Instructions for Ingredients B:

  1. Melt ¾ cup of butter in the microwave.
  2. Pour melted butter into a bowl, followed by warm milk,vanilla extract and light brown sugar. Stir to mix each time you add in these ingredients if necessary. Stir to combine and set aside.
  3. In another bowl, add two large room-temperature eggs.
  4. Lightly beat the eggs with a fork or whisk.
  5. Then pour the beaten eggs into the butter mixture. Stir to combine and set aside.

Ingredients C:

  • 2 Cups All Purpose Flour
  • ½ Teaspoon Baking Soda
  • 1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
  • ½ Teaspoon Cinnamon Powder
  • ¼ Teaspoon Allspice Powder
  • ¼ Teaspoon Ground Ginger
  • ¼ Teaspoon Nutmeg Powder
  • ¼ Teaspoon Salt

Instructions for Ingredients C:

  1. Combine and sift “ingredients C” into a large mixing bowl.
  2. Stir with a whisk to combine. Set aside for later.

Ingredients D:

  • ⅛ Cup All Purpose Flour (-/+ adjustable, for coating mixed fruits and nuts)

Instructions for Ingredients D:

  1. Now, take a spoon and scoop out all the soaked fruits & nuts in ingredient "A" above and strain them through a strainer as shown in the video.
  2. Reserve all the liquid.
  3. Add the soaked and drained mixed fruits and nuts to a bowl.
  4. Add ⅛ cup of the all-purpose flour listed in ingredient "D" above to the mixed fruits and nuts. You can always add extra flour if needed as you go.
  5. Coat the fruits and nuts in flour and shake off any excess flour before using. This step is to prevent the fruits and nuts from sinking to the bottom in the baking process.
  6. Set the coated mixed fruits and nuts aside.

Optional Ingredients (For Garnishing):

  • Some whole sweetened dried red & green cherries (Coated with some flour)
  • Some whole nuts (Your choice of nuts. Coated with some flour)

Final-Combining the cake batter instructions:

  1. Now, add the ingredient "B" mixture above that we prepared earlier and the liquid that we reserved from soaking the mixed fruits and nuts to the ingredient "C”(the flour mixture).
  2. With a spatula, stir and mix to combine everything as shown into the cake batter.
  3. Next, add the flour-coated mixed fruits and nuts above into the batter, and fold to combine.
  4. Pour the batter into your choice of baking or loaf pan, greased or lined with parchment paper. We used an 8.5-Inch loaf pan and an extra batter into a mini foil loaf pan. (Click on these blue bold items to view both pans)
  5. Decorate with flour-coated red and green cherries and nuts on top (optional).
  6. Bake at 320 degrees F for 45–50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. (Preheat the oven to 340 F, put the loaf in,then reduce the temperature to 320 F and bake at 320 F for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean) The above temperature, time, and setting are based on our oven. All ovens work differently. Please adjust the temperature and baking time accordingly.
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Tips & Notes:

  1. You can make this loaf without alcohol by replacing it with orange juice.
  2. We used a mixture of red and green cherries, raisins and dried cranberries for the mixed fruits. You can use any fruit of your choice.
  3. We used a mixture of walnuts and cashews for mixed nuts. You can use your choice of mixed nuts. If you are allergic to nuts, just omit the nuts from the recipe.
  4. We used White Claw Hard Seltzer Black Cherry. You can substitute with any fruity hard seltzer of your choice. If hard seltzer is not available to you, just use rum, whiskey or brandy.
  5. We used unsalted butter, but you can use salted butter. Just omit the salt in the recipe if you use salted butter.
  6. You can melt the butter in the microwave or a double boiler.
  7. If the butter curdles up after pouring in the warm milk, no worries. It’s not the end of the world. Just transfer the mixture into a microwave-safe bowl and heat it up in 5-second increments. Stir, and your butter mixture will return to normal.
  8. We used an 8.5-inch loaf pan and a mini foil loaf pan. You can use any size loaf pan. If you have any leftover batter, simply pour it into another mini pan. We don’t fuss about the size of the pan when it comes to baking and use only what we have. Feel free to do things your own way.
  9. For our oven condition, we preheated the oven to 340 F, placed the loaf in, then reduced the temperature to 320 F and baked for 45–50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted came out clean. Our loaf turned out moist on the inside without drying out the texture, and there were no overly browned hard crusts on the sides. The loaf stays moist for weeks. Take note, the above temperature, time and setting are based on our oven. All ovens work differently. Please adjust temperature and time accordingly. Add extra minutes if needed until the loaf is cooked through.
    We tried baking at 340 F all the way through, but the loaf came out with hard crusts, an overly browned loaf, and a dry texture on the inside. So we experimented with the above temperature for the second time, and the loaf turned out perfectly baked from the outside to the inside ! If your oven can bake at 340 F throughout, great. If not, this is what we did as mentioned above for your reference.
  10. You can keep the baked loaf at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 6 days if you used alcohol, but if you used orange juice, keep it at room temperature for up to 3 days.
  11. You can store them in the fridge for up to 10 days (baked with alcohol), 5 days (baked without alcohol), or the freezer for up to a month if stored properly.
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