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The Italian Recipe That Might Change Your Mind About Fruitcake
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The Italian Recipe That Might Change Your Mind About Fruitcake

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Fruitcake is perhaps the most mocked, maligned and mistreated Christmas dessert there is. But here we are, against all odds, with a darn fruitcake recipe!

And it’s all because of a fateful Christmas where Eva decided to make a northern Italian recipe, “Zelten,” for her southern Italian family…

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ZELTEN RECIPES – https://www.pastagrammar.com/post/northern-italian-christmas-fruitcake-recipe-how-to-make-zelten

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#fruitcake #christmas #italianfood

47 Comments

  3. @MadCatIII

    As Zelten comes from the part of Italy that is closest to Austria, its actually quite popular in the rest of Austria. Also please dont call people from Alto Adige /South Tyrol "German".

  5. @PennyHarding-yc7bl

    What is called a fruitcake in America is despicable! It’s only dried fruit bound together with cornstarch – no cake – some not even baked. Horrid. In the UK and the West Indies fruitcake is a very much loved special cake served only at Christmas and special events like weddings and notable birthdays. Absolutely no relation to what is made in America! The Americans I know who have had our fruitcake say they cannot believe how good it is. So – think you need to clarify fruitcake and American excuse for a fruitcake.

  6. @ruthsinclair1883

    Some Americans are very odd about fruitcake which leads me to think they have never tried one or at least never tried a good one. I make a very dark fruitcake only once a year, for Christmas (always called Christmas Cake, never fruitcake.) It is loaded with brandy-soaked dried fruits of all kinds in a simple cake batter with a proper mixed spice mix. (A decent English Mixed Spice mix is to grind a cinnamon stick (maybe about 2-3 inches long, a whole nutmeg, 3 cloves, 10- 15gs allspice berries and the same of ground ginger together till absolutely smooth. Most bought Mixed spice now seems to contain coriander and cassia and dill, none of which have any place in a Christmas cake.) It is cooked long and slow in the Aga simmering oven, covered with homemade marzipan (the bought stuff is 25% almonds instead of 50% so isn't worth buying and it is so easy to make), and the in a whipped up snow of Royal icing, and decorated with tiny a Father Christmas, Christmas tree, Merry Christmas street sign, Victorian lamppost and a red telephone box with a robin on top, or whatever you inherited from your mother/grandmother, and then wrapped round the sides in a frilled cake ribbon, usually red, green, gold and involving a holly pattern. My mother and I used to make seven of these a year for various neighbours and relatives, and we iced them with festoons in royal icing (snow style is much easier as I don't have the strength in my hands to pipe royal icing now). This year I doubled our usual quantity and made enough for 4 x 5," 1×6", 1×7", and one 8" inch cake. We kept the 8" inch cake and the rest went to village hall stand at the farmers market in our village, to raise money to keep our village hall going. All ten Christmas cakes on the stand sold very quickly.

    If you want a very simple recipe, for an 8 inch quite deep cake, here are the ingredients, as you can buy the right size pack so don't need to measure anything::
    500 gms raisins, sultanas, currants, salted butter, plain flour, dark muscavado sugar
    5 – 10 eggs (beaten),
    250 gms halved cherries and 250 gms mixed peel
    4 teaspoons mixed spice

    Method: cream together the butter and sugar. Add eggs and flour (with mixed spice added) alternately. Fold in the fruit and stir until well mixed. Spoon into the lined tins and bake in the Aga simmering oven. DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DOOR FOR THE FIRST TWO HOURS. Turn out of the tins when slightly cooled (say twenty minutes)

    I like the look of both those recipes but they may have to wait to next year now as I am all fruitcake-baked out! Wishing you both a very Merry Christmas and a fabulous 2025!

  8. @heidigreen1815

    I learn SO much from this channel. I love the videos where Italians go through average grocery stores and say yes or no but more importantly WHY they would wouldn’t buy one brand of pasta over another.

  10. @Khvalheim10

    I will say, the fruitcake that my dad would buy for Christmas was ghastly. Nothing but brightly colored candied fruit, a weird chemical flavor, and a dense texture. I have since had a fruitcake that was decent, but I do think that a large majority of fruit cakes you can buy taste pretty awful.

  11. @evikäfi

    Wow can’t believe you made Zelten! Love my MIL’s Recipe, she’s tyrolean (with a strong influence from south tyrol/ alto adige). Allthough there’s various good fruit cakes all over Austria (Hausfreunde, Kletzenbrot,…), Zelten are my favorite! Once I even used rye-sourdough and it turned out delicious.
    And yes, it’s pronounced Zelten with a “Ts”!

  12. @Sunjoy1

    We LOVE fruit cake…I made my first one 45 yrs ago and the family loved it too… Dates and other dried fruit…soaked for days in blackberry wine… delicious

  15. @anyaroz8619

    I would totally add some Calabrian pepper flakes into the Christmas nut and berry and spices mix

  16. @jenniferanderson1600

    Key correction: the correct spice for the second version of zelten is known in English as caraway (cumino tedesco in Italian, i.e. "German cumin"). It is different from the spice known in English as cumin (cumino nero in Italian, i.e. "black cumin"). The seeds look almost identical and they are both sometimes shortened to just "cumino" in Italian but they're very different. Caraway has a mild fennel or anise flavour and is frequently used in rye bread. Cumin has an earthier, more savoury flavour and almost never appears in traditional European cuisines. Despite the similar names in Italian and certain other languages, they shouldn't be used interchangeably.

  17. @pattiwhite9575

    My family loves fruitcake. My Swedish mother made them every year growing up. I do not know where she got her recipe from. She mailed whole fruit cakes out to all the relatives. Her fruit cakes were dense. Had to weigh over 20#;s. She stewed the fruits and cooled them before adding the flour and spices. Hers used the dried fruit bits of pineapple, citron and cherry along with the dates and figs and raisins. Used only pecans inside and out for decorations. It was a very dark cake. After cooling she would wrap them up in heavy duty foil twice. We stored one in the freezer for the rest of the year. They can be keep for years in the freezer.

    I am amazed how many variations all over the world there are. They make sense to me. You use what you preserve all year long.

  21. @k.p.1139

    Fruit cake, those rocks of gross candied fruits 😝😝 We get one every single year. My father in law asks, every single year- did you like the fruit cake..and every single year- dad- I'm ALLERGIC to pineapples…and every single year- oh that's right, I must write it down. Yesterday, we actually got a text- you-uh..allergic to anything? YES- FRUIT CAKE…answer back..oh 😏😏🤣🤣😂😂

  24. @lars277

    The girl with the most beautiful hair and her lucky husband. Best regards always to you two. May you have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

  25. @moonshadowessentialssoapsn5287

    My favorite every year is Penetone. In my family it tastes like Christmas and most of us eat it. If u don’t like the dried fruit u can get it with Italian dark chocolate chips. But, me , I love the fruit and nuts. I just had some. lol

  27. @buds8423

    Love rye flour in my baking, and love homemade fruitcake(make the candied peel, if in US)

  33. @lb8141

    I think this is the only time that would say this is a hard NO for me. It's beautiful and I am in no way being critical of this cake, but I just can't with a fruit cake. Love you guys and your channel.❤❤❤

  36. @spidrawebster

    I only recently came across your channel and I was wondering – have you done any videos on heirloom cultivars of Italian fruit? (Despite the name of your channel.) I've been binge watching your videos on pastas, cheeses, and meats, but as you went through Molise, I was thinking there are probably local fruit varieties as well. Regardless, I enjoy your work!

  40. @meercatt

    Cumin is not a spice I would think good in a sweet dish .. more enchiladas 😂❤ I keep hoping for Pitta Impigliata video someday ❤❤
    Happy holidays to the both of you!
    Definitely getting one of those shirts and can’t wait for airbnbs etc in Dasa so I might actually get there one day sans Covid 😂

  41. @SEK-COJO_inmyheart

    What was the liquid in the glass she added to the first Zelten (cake)? And do we know how much of each? I don't c a recipe.

  42. @notactuallymyrealname

    I think fruitcake, at least in the US, was a victim of the post-WWII commodification of food, and of the movement away from slow food. Good fruitcake takes time, and it takes booze (which USians can also get real weird about), and it is so very unlike anything else that USians call "cake". It's known for its long shelf life — so supermarkets kept it on the shelves forever. It's known for having tons and tons of dried fruit in it — so grocery producers started selling cheaper mass-produced poor-quality neon-colored fruitcake blends. Good homemade fruitcake, though, with good fruit, that's not underbaked (ew), that's brushed with brandy every few days while it cures: man, there's nothing like it. So many European countries (and their former colonies) make incredible fruitcakes. They're such a treat, a spiced and punchy ode to so many jewels of sweet summer preservation.

  43. @mas2988

    In Australia we have tons of fruit cake…we love it ❤ just as much as Pannatonne

  44. @qualqui

    Buddy, you hit the LOTTO when you met, fell in love and married your sweet Ava! Beautiful Italian chick that makes some yummy Italian dishes and now Italian Fruitcake and bread, which are really called Zeltons. Thank you for sharing, 👍trying the Zelton recipe here in Mexico and Christmas greetings👋for you both.🤠

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