Cream Cheese Fruitcake

• cream cheese↗8 ounces
• eggs, room temperature↗4
• flour↗2 cups
• baking powder↗2 teaspoons
• butter, room temperature↗1 cup
• vanilla extract↗1 teaspoon
• sugar↗3⁄4 - 1 cup
• salt↗1 teaspoon
• mixed nuts and dried fruit3 cups
• flour, to coat dried fruit↗1⁄2 cup

Step-by-step instructions

1. 1

   To make the fruit & nut mix, chop up an assortment of dried fruits and nuts of your choice. Typically, my mom uses raisins, pineapple, papaya, green & red glacé cherries, and pecans. Smaller dried fruits like raisins don't need to be cut, but dice up the other fruits and the nuts. Now measure out 3 cups worth of the mixture and mix it up with the remaining 1/2 cup of flour (this is done so that the fruits and nuts won't all sink to the bottom of your cake when baking).

2. 2

   Preheat the oven to 325°F

3. 3

   Cream the butter and sugar together. Mix in the cream cheese.

4. 4

   Add the eggs in one at a time, mixing after each addition. Add the vanilla extract.

5. 5

   In another bowl, mix the dry ingredients: 2 cups flour, the baking powder, and the salt.

6. 6

   Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients; the batter will be quite thick.

7. 7

   When barely any streaks remain, mix in the flour-covered fruit & nut mix. Only on few strokes of your spatula are needed; do not overmix.

8. 8

   Spray a loaf pan (9x5 in) with nonstick spray and line the bottom of the pan with a rectangle of parchment paper.

9. 9

   Scrape your batter into the loaf pan, smoothing the top.

10. 10

    Place in the oven and let bake for 60-70 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.

11. 11

    If near the end of baking, the inside of the cake is still wet but the top is browning too quickly, cover the top with a sheet of foil.

12. 12

    Let your cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to finish cooking.