I tried this recipe and ended up with an oily mess. It tasted good but it was close to dripping. I'm sure I measured my ingredients especially the butter correctly but before I try again (and waste my precious dried fruits), did anybody else experience an oily cake?

I'm not a fan of overly fruity fruit cakes and prefer one with more cake than fruit. I had high hopes for this recipe and I need it to work.

To bake a less fruity cake you simply add less fruit.

If you already have a good recipe, then just use it keeping the same amount of butter, flour, eggs, sugar and any liquid like syrup or marmalade or canned fruit.

You just use a smaller amount of fruit according to your taste. That's all. Use any dried or candied fruit you like. Soak before baking if you like, but drain well after soaking as you would anyway.

You bake for less time at the same temperature depending on the size of pan you used. Bake until it tests done with a toothpick inserted near the middle.

If you have a good recipe for pound cake, use that and add fruit to taste.

Thank you for these tips BakingIrene. I like the idea of converting a pound cake to a fruit cake. I have a couple of fruit cake recipes that called for so much fruit but now I'm glad I didn't throw them away. I'm going to to try those with less fruit and use the adjustments you suggested.

I have a date nut bread recipe that is milder than my fruitcake. The dates are soaked in Grand Marnier. You could sub or add fruits. It is so similar to fruitcake, you may really like it.

PM me if interested. Susan