There's something magical about the aroma of a Christmas Cake Kerala Style drifting through the home, rich, warm, and festive. Packed with plump dry fruits, crunchy nuts, spices, and that signature caramel syrup, this beloved treat is a December tradition across Kerala, and local bakeries usually have them stocked up. Yet nothing quite compares to the homemade version, bursting with depth, flavors, and nostalgia. I am sure you will enjoy this bakery-style goodness, straight from my kitchen to yours.
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Why will you love this Kerala-style Christmas cake
- Unforgettable caramel flavor: The caramelized sugar infuses the cake with a deep, distinctive sweetness you won't find in ordinary fruit cakes.
- Heavenly mix-ins: Every bite is loaded with nuts, tutti frutti, and raisins-perfectly balanced with the warm notes of caramel.
- Perfect with tea or coffee: This cake makes a delightful companion to your afternoon chai or morning coffee, just like an eggless chocolate cupcake or banana bread with walnuts.
- Surprisingly simple: Once your ingredients and caramel syrup are ready, the rest of the recipe comes together with ease.
- No frosting needed: A light dusting of powdered sugar is all it takes to make this cake shine, just like in my Lemon Olive Oil Cake Recipe.
- Festive and gift-worthy: Its rich color and jewel-like fruits make it look wonderfully Christmassy. It's a thoughtful, homemade gift for friends and loved ones, just like the Christmas sugar cookies and chewy crinkle cookies.
- Better than store-bought: While you can find fruit cakes in some stores, nothing compares to the freshness and flavor of this homemade version. One slice and you'll know exactly what I mean!
Ingredients needed
You will need the following:
- All-purpose Flour, as with any cake, is the base of this cake.
- Candied fruits, nuts, raisins.
- Spices like clove and cinnamon.
- Baking soda.
- Organic eggs and unsalted butter.
- Sugar and a pinch of salt.
How to make Caramel syrup for Plum cake?
There are two simple ways to prepare the caramel syrup, which is the true star of this recipe. The first method involves slowly melting sugar over a low to medium flame until it turns a deep golden brown. Refer to the collage picture below for visual guidance.
Once the sugar reaches the right color, carefully add about ¼ cup of water. The mixture will crystallize at first, but don't worry, just continue heating it gently until it melts back down into a smooth, glossy syrup. Then set it aside to cool.
The whole process takes about 10 to 20 minutes, and patience is key. Sugar can burn in seconds, so staying attentive ensures you achieve that perfect, richly flavored caramel every time.
The second method is even simpler: combine the sugar and water from the start and heat the mixture until the sugar dissolves and gradually turns a deep brown. This approach reduces the risk of burning but does take a bit longer. Either method works well, so choose whichever suits your comfort level.
How to make Christmas Cake Kerala Style?
Make the caramel syrup ahead as shown above. Sift the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices, and keep them aside. Line the baking pan with parchment paper and liberally coat it with plenty of butter on all sides.
Beat butter at room temperature along with sugar till it is smooth. Later, add vanilla, and one egg at a time, alternating with the flour. The flour can be added in three additions. Fold in the dry fruits, nuts coated with flour, and caramel syrup prepared earlier. Transfer to the prepared cake pan and bake at 375 degrees F for 55 minutes.
Start looking for the doneness of the cake by poking a toothpick in the center of the cake after 50 minutes of baking. In my case, I had to bake for an extra five minutes. Dust with powdered sugar once cooled. Slice and serve.
Useful Tips
- Coat fruits and nuts with flour before adding them to the batter. This helps keep them evenly distributed in the cake, instead of sinking to the bottom while baking.
- Use freshly ground spices such as cloves and cinnamon whenever possible. Fresh spices have a stronger aroma and can elevate the overall flavor of your cake.
- For a rich, moist cake, soak the dried fruits before adding them to the batter.
- Traditional recipes often use alcohol for soaking. For a non-alcoholic version, you can soak the fruits in orange juice instead.
- This soaking step is optional; your cake will still turn out moist even without soaking, so choose based on your preference.
- Important note: when caramelizing the sugar, I used the first method of melting sugar by itself and ran into one hiccup: the caramel syrup began to solidify before I could mix it into the batter. With winter temperatures being so low here, the syrup cooled rapidly. To fix it, I simply reheated it, let it cool just enough, and quickly incorporated it into the batter before it hardened again.
Hope you are having a great holiday season with family and friends. This is a great time for spreading joy by giving, sharing, baking, and enjoying delicious goodies like Christmas sugar cookies and Chewy chocolate crinkle cookies, too. If you are looking for more, here are some chocolate goodies for celebration. Wishing all my wonderful readers a holiday season that is full of peace, joy, and happiness!
Related Recipes
If you tried this Christmas Cake Kerala Style Recipe or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and a 📝 comment below. I love hearing from you!
Christmas Cake Kerala Style
Ingredients
- 1 cup All-purpose Flour use 3 tbsp from this to coat dry fruits
- ¼ cup raisin black
- ½ cup cashews chopped
- ½ cup candied fruits candy alternately you can use dates, apricots or any other dry fruits you prefer.
- 1 pinch salt
- ¼ tsp cloves fresh ground
- ½ tsp cinnamon fresh ground
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ cup sugar for browning and making caramel syrup
- ¾ cup sugar for beating with butter in the batter
- ¼ cup water
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 eggs
- 11 tbsp butter unsalted , softened to room temperature
Instructions
Making Caramel Sauce
- Take a heavy bottomed pan and heat sugar on low to medium flame, taking care not to burn.
- This may take about 10 to 20 minutes and will turn into a brown sticky liquid.
- Switch off the flame and pour a quarter cup of water .This will cause some splutter and make the sugar to crystalize.
- Reheat the pan and keep stirring till you get a smooth free flowing syrup.
- Keep aside to cool.
For Cake Batter
- Whisk the all-purpose flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and clove powder. Keep it aside.
- Beat the butter, which is at room temperature, along with sugar using a hand mixer or stand mixer for about 5 minutes until it becomes soft and fluffy.
- Add vanilla , eggs one at a time and flour in three addition alternatively with each egg.
- Finally, add in the cooled caramel syrup and the flour-coated dry fruits and nuts.
- Fold in gently and transfer the batter into the baking pan smeared with butter and lined with parchment paper.
- Bake at 375 deg F for 55 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean when poked in the center.
- Cool on a wire rack and dust it with powdered sugar .Slice and serve.
Video
Notes
- Coat fruits and nuts with flour before adding them to the batter. This helps keep them evenly distributed in the cake, instead of sinking to the bottom while baking.
- Use freshly ground spices such as cloves and cinnamon whenever possible. Fresh spices have a stronger aroma and can elevate the overall flavor of your cake.
- For a rich, moist cake, soak the dried fruits before adding them to the batter.
- Traditional recipes often use alcohol for soaking.
- For a non-alcoholic version, you can soak the fruits in orange juice instead.
- This step is optional; your cake will still turn out moist even without soaking, so choose based on your preference.
- Important note: when caramelizing the sugar, I used the first method and ran into one hiccup: the caramel syrup began to solidify before I could mix it into the batter. With winter temperatures being so low here, the syrup cooled rapidly. To fix it, I simply reheated it, let it cool just enough, and quickly incorporated it into the batter before it hardened again.
I made this Christmas Cake Kerala style, and it turned out so good! The mix of dried fruits and warm spices makes it feel like such a cosy holiday treat. I’ll definitely bake it again!
I've never been a huge fan of fruit cakes....that was until I tried this one. The combo of spices, nuts, and candied fruit was irresistible!
First time I made a Christmas cake at home and I'm not going back to shop bought now. Tastes just so much better than anything you can buy and the house smells heavenly!
I loved this Christmas cake. I served it in a friends meeting and they all love it. And it's so easy to make!
A really delicious special occasion cake. We really enjoyed it!
Oh very nice! I've never seen a Christmas cake like this before. I will have to give this a try to make myself!
Wow! This looks delicious. I haven't really tried one but would love to try this Christmas Cake Kerala Style. Will find time to do this. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Wow we have a similar cake in Portugal, it's called the king's cake and normally eat it just after Christmas!
Wow! Delicious Christmas cake recipe. We don't give cloves or cinnamon, but I have to try it. Thanks for sharing 😊🤗💓
This is nice. Who knew there was an alcoholic version? Certainly not me. Though I'm not so crazy about nuts, I find this recipe interesting.
Wow!! This reminds me of the tradition of making Christmas cake every year as a child growing up. It was one thing that made Christmas enjoyable, now I'm off the sugar and I'd love to eat some cake. Lol!!
This sounds like a great cake. I think I'd try to do an alcoholic version to give it a little bit of a kick.
looks lovely and you don't need to torture yourself seeing a premade cake waiting for Christmas. We have stollen tradition at home and it's a pain seeing it all the time and wanting to eat it only to wait
This kerala style X'mas cake truly excites me, Nisha.
Thank you Suni , hope you enjoy making it as well!
I remember making a Christmas cake when I was younger and it was delicious! I need to follow this recipe and make another.
Hope you like this version of the cake too.