Condensed milk fruit cake (with Baileys Irish Cream)

You only need 4 ingredients to make this condensed milk fruit cake, and one of them is a cup of Baileys Irish Cream liqueur! This is a tasty, moist fruit cake perfect for serving with your afternoon tea, or you could cover it with custard for a quick and easy dessert!

I discovered half a bottle of Baileys Irish Cream leftover from Christmas (yes, unbelievably that did actually happen) and was looking for ways to use it (apart from the obvious way of just drinking it)!

I found this recipe for a 4-ingredient condensed milk fruitcake on Australia's Best Recipes website and thought I'd give it a try. It's quite unbelievable, but you only need 4 ingredients - Baileys, a can of condensed milk, mixed dried fruit and self-raising flour. OK - you also need half a cup of water, but I'm not counting that as an ingredient!

I made one or two slight changes to the recipe (which I'll mention later), but I was pleasantly surprised. The cake was moist and tasty - not too sweet, and also not overpowered by the flavour of the Baileys. In fact, I would say this is the easiest and best-tasting fruit cake recipe that I've ever tried!

Once I'd made it I gave hubby a slice to taste and asked him what he thought. His verdict was 'very nice, moist and tasty'. I asked him if he could taste the Baileys and he had to take another bite. 'Yes' he said, 'but only now that you've mentioned it'.

The fruit has to be soaked overnight in a mixture of Baileys and condensed milk so it can plump up and absorb all the flavours, so if you intend to try this cake, bear this in mind and put the fruit on to soak the night before.

This Baileys fruit cake can be enjoyed at any time of the year (not just Christmas). It's easy to make and stores in a cool pantry for ages.

You may also like to take a look at my other easy fruit cake recipes:

• No-bake Christmas cake (with chocolate)
• Last minute Christmas cake

Let me show you how to make it!

Jump to:

• What you will need
• What to do
• Tips and hints
• Changes to the original recipe
• Variations
• Storage
• FAQ
• Save for later
• Related recipes
• 📋The recipe

What you will need

Equipment

For mixing the cake you will need a large mixing bowl. And for baking the cake I would recommend a loose-bottomed cake tin so that you can remove the cake easily. I used a deep 8"square tin, but you could also use a 9" round spring-form pan if you prefer a round cake.

Ingredients

These ingredients will make one 8" x 8" square fruit cake or one 9" round fruit cake.

You will only need 4 ingredients (or 5 if you count the water).

• Mixed fruit - this is a mixture of currents, sultanas, raisins and candied mixed peel. It is what you would normally buy if you were making a Christmas cake.
• Baileys - Irish cream liqueur - there is no butter in this cake so the cream in the Baileys adds the fat content.
• Condensed milk - this is sweetened condensed milk NOT evaporated milk.
• Self-raising flour - if you only have plain flour you can add one teaspoon of baking powder per cup of flour.
• Water - not too much, but it acts to help plump up the fruit.

**You can find the exact ingredient quantities on the printable recipe card at the end of this post**

What to do

As I mentioned earlier, the fruit has to soak overnight so bear this in mind if you make this recipe.

Tips and hints

Here are a few things to bear in mind when making this condensed milk fruit cake.

• Do use the original Baileys Irish Cream if possible. You can use the cheaper 'look-alike' brands but they are thinner than the original Baileys and don't contain as much cream. For this reason, the cake might turn out to be drier than intended.
• It is important to allow the fruit to stand overnight so that all the liquid can be absorbed. Don't be tempted to skip this step.
• Allow the mixture to come to room temperature before baking.
• Use self-raising flour. If you don't have self-raising flour you can use plain flour and add one level teaspoon of baking powder for every cup (or 140 grams) of flour.
• Don't skimp on the fruit. The recipe calls for one kilogram, which may seem like a lot, but it works! Believe me, I was sceptical too!
• Test the cake for doneness after one and a half hours. If the cake still seems a little undercooked, leave it in the oven for a few minutes longer.
• Take care not to overbake the cake - if it seems to be browning too much on top, cover it loosely with a sheet of tinfoil.
• Make sure the oven temperature is set at 150C/300F. The cake will be in the oven for a long time and if the oven is too hot the cake will burn on the outside before the inside has had time to cook through properly.

Changes to the original recipe

These are the changes I made to the original recipe.

• Baileys - the original recipe calls for three-quarters of a cup (180 ml) of Baileys. I used an entire cup (240 ml).
• Cooking time - the time stated in the original recipe was 2 hours. Luckily I checked after 1 hour and 40 minutes because my cake was starting to burn around the edges. The optimal cooking time is 1 hour and 30 minutes with a few minutes extra only if necessary.

Variations

You can vary this recipe in several ways - here are a few suggestions:

• Chocolate flavour - use chocolate-flavoured Baileys instead of Original, or experiment with other Baileys flavours. The Orange Truffle sounds quite appealing.
• Nuts and cherries - swap out a cup of mixed fruit for a cup of chopped nuts and glace cherries.
• Topping - decorate the top of the cake with whole blanched almonds or a mixture of almonds and glace cherries before baking.
• Serve it as a pudding - heat slices of the cake (use your microwave) and drizzle with custard for a delicious dessert.

The cake can also be iced as you would ice any other fruit cake.

Storage

Store the cake in a cake tin in a cool place (no need to refrigerate). The flavours improve on standing.

I wrapped my cake in tin foil. It's been 10 days now and the cake is still as fresh and as moist as the day it was made.

If anyone makes this and leaves it to mature for longer, please let me know in the comments how long you left it for.

You can also freeze this cake. I cut half of mine into slices and packed them in layers in an air-tight container, separating each layer with a sheet of baking paper.

To use, remove as many slices as you need and let them defrost on the counter before eating.

Here is a close-up of a cross-section of the cake so you can see the texture.

FAQ

Save for later

If you would like to make this recipe why not save it to one of your Pinterest boards so you can find it easily? Just click on the image below.

Alternatively, you can save the recipe by clicking on the floating heart icon on the right-hand side of the screen.

Related recipes

Here are some of my other fruit cake recipes that you may like to try.

You can find all of these plus similar recipes on my cake, biscuits and dessert recipes page.

📋The recipe

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