Teta Julia’s Christmas Cake
Showcasing local Palestinian ingredients, this heavily spiced fruitcake is an homage to chef Fadi Kattan’s grandmother.
- Makes
Two 9-inch loaves
- Time
2 hours, plus cooling and chilling
For Franco Palestinian chef and Bethlehem: A Celebration of Palestinian Food author Fadi Kattan, it isn’t Christmas without his grandmother’s fruitcake. “This cake symbolizes Christmas for all of us in the family, as Teta Julia would share the love and fill up all our refrigerators with loaves of it,” he writes. “After her passing, it was a while before I had the courage to revive the ritual. Now, not a Christmas passes by without my baking her famous cake.”
Funnily enough, the cake is based on an old Betty Crocker recipe, which Teta Julia adapted to include local Palestinian ingredients, adding extra cinnamon and nutmeg, sweetening with dibs (grape molasses), and loading up on dried fruits, from moist dates to fleshy apricots to musky figs. Also studded with buttery walnuts and heavily spiced, each dense, darkly sweet loaf is worth its weight in gold. While Kattan recommends storing the cake in the fridge for a week before serving or gifting, it can also be enjoyed the same day it’s baked—even he admits to devouring the first loaf as soon as it’s cool enough to handle.
Adapted with permission from Bethlehem: A Celebration of Palestinian Food by Fadi Kattan. Published by Hardie Grant Publishing, May 2024.
Featured in “Remembering Teta Julia and Her Recipe for Christmas Cake.”
Ingredients
- 1 cup (200 g) sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup (240 ml) vegetable oil
- ½ cup (170 g) dibs (grape molasses)
- 1 cup (240 ml) fresh orange juice
- 3½ cups (420 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp. ground allspice
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. ground cardamom
- 1 tsp. ground ginger
- 1 tsp. ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp. kosher salt
- 2 cups (480 g) Medjool dates, pitted and quartered
- 2 cups (280 g) raisins
- 1 cup (100 g) walnut pieces
- ½ cup (90 g) dried apricots, halved
- ½ cup (70 g) dried cherries
- ½ cup dried figs, halved
Instructions
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- Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 300°F. Line two 9- by 5-inch loaf pans with foil, leaving a 2-inch overhang on all four sides. Line the foil with parchment, also leaving a 2-inch overhang on all four sides.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar and eggs until light and fluffy, 2–3 minutes. Whisk in the oil and dibs until well incorporated, then whisk in the orange juice.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, allspice, baking powder, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and whisk gently until you have a smooth batter.
- In a second medium bowl, toss together the dates, raisins, walnuts, apricots, cherries, and figs. Divide the dried fruit mixture evenly between the prepared pans, followed by the batter. Set aside to allow the batter to sink in well around the fruit, about 15 minutes.
- Bake, uncovered, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour. If the cake is still wet but browning on top, fold over the parchment and foil to seal the cake and continue baking for 20–30 minutes more.
- Transfer the pans to a wire rack and set aside to cool completely. For the best flavor, wrap the cakes well in the parchment and foil and refrigerate for at least 1 week.
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