Boiled Pineapple Fruit Cake

Looking for the secret to a quick and beautifully moist fruit cake? It might just be this Boiled Pineapple Fruit Cake Recipe. It’s a recipe that’s been around for years and has become a preferred fruit cake recipe for many home cooks in Australia and New Zealand.

The Recipe for Boiled Pineapple Fruit Cake

Why is this recipe so popular with home cooks?

One, it’s super quick to make. No need to make your cake weeks in advance! And it should take just minutes – about 15 of them – to get it in the oven.

The cake doesn’t need a long time to mature, because the boiling breaks the fruit down. A teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda is also added to the boiling mixture in this recipe, which helps break down the fruit even more quickly.

Thanks to the whole tin of crushed pineapple that’s added, it’s a sweet and moist cake with extra fruity flavours.

Where did you find this recipe for Pineapple Boiled Fruit Cake?

This is a recipe that pops up frequently in Aussie community cookbooks (the best place to find the recipes home cooks love) from the 1980s and 1990s.

It seems to have come from an Australian Women’s Weekly (AWW) recipe that dates back to the late 1960s.

I’ve examined all of the recipes I could find to come up with the best version of this much-loved recipe.

TIP: I’ve included a picture below of the AWW recipe (plus the main ingredient, tinned crushed pineapple). However, please keep reading for the tested and tweaked version of the recipe below.

How to make boiled fruit cake with pineapple

The recipe is straightforward and the method along with all the ingredient quantities can be found in the recipe card at the end of this post.

However, let’s also just run through the steps here and I’ll add some tips along the way.

Prepping

Pre-heat your oven to moderate (180 degrees celsius/355 degrees fahrenheit).

Grab a 7-8 inch round cake tin – or the closest thing you’ve got to that – and grease it before lining with some baking paper.

Boiling

Place the mixed fruit, the entire contents of the tin of crushed pineapple, sugar, butter and bicarb soda in a saucepan. Heat gently to melt butter and dissolve sugar.

REMEMBER: Don’t drain the pineapple – place the entire contents of the tin (pineapple + juice) into the saucepan.

Bring to a boil and maintain a steady boil for 3 minutes.

NOTE: The mixture will froth up because of the bicarb soda. That’s fine.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely.

TIP: To speed up the cooling process, place the saucepan in a cool water bath. Add some ice cubes to the water bath for an even quicker cool-down.

Mixing

Sift the flours and mixed spice together and then add to the cooled mixture along with well-beaten eggs.

Stir until combined.

Baking

Pour the mixture into prepared cake tin and bake for one hour.

Reduce temperature to 160 degrees celsius/320 degrees fahrenheit and bake for a further 30-40 minutes.

Allow to cool in tin.

Recipe FAQs

Q. How do you store this fruit cake?

Given it contains no alcohol and crushed pineapple, it’s best stored in the fridge and should keep this way for up to one month.

Q. Can you freeze this pineapple fruit cake?

You sure can. Simply wrap it in a cling wrap and freeze for up to 3 months.

Q. Do you have any other fruit cake recipes?

Plenty! You might like to check out the recipes for Christmas Cake, Rich Christmas Cake, Floral Fruit Cake and Eggless Fruit Cake.