It’s the first Wednesday of the month (the last month of the year! YIKES.) and that means it’s time to celebrate some foodie fun! Specifically Fruit Cake. This month’s event is hosted by Laura of Baking in Pyjamas.

The Foodie Extravaganza is a monthly party hosted by bloggers who love food! Each month we incorporate one main ingredient or theme into recipes to share. If you are a blogger and you’re interested in joining in the fun, visit us at our Facebook Foodie Extravaganza page. You can also visit our past party submissions on our Pinterest Foodie Extravaganza board.

I’ve never had fruit cake so I decided to do a little research and find a way to manipulate the controversial dessert into a format that would be most welcome in my house – as breakfast!

I took some of the traditional flavors of fruit cake (minus the booze) and created an original recipe Fruit (Pan)cake! I opted for dried fruits instead of candied, in my case cherries and golden raisins. Because a little one would be eating these pancakes I decided to pulse the walnuts so as to not be a choking hazard, doing so created a great texture to the pancakes and provided heartiness. I used traditional spices to amp up the batter too – cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg – and instead of white sugar I used brown sugar for some extra warmth. If you want some of that boozy flavor try adding some rum extract or making a rum syrup!

Fruit (Pan)cakes

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 C flour
• 1/2 C ground walnuts
• 3 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1 1/4 C milk
• 3 tbsp melted butter
• 1/2 C golden raisins
• 1/2 C dried cherries

Steps:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, walnuts, baking powder, brown sugar, and spices.
2. In another bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, and melted butter. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry and fold in the fruit.
3. On a hot buttered griddle drop 1/3 C of batter into pancakes. Cook until golden on both sides. Flip pancakes when batter starts to set and bubbles form in the center of the pancake.

Be sure to check out these other fruit cakes:

Aussie Boiled Fruitcake by Food Lust People Love

Brandied Apricot-Ginger Fruitcake by Cherishing a Sweet Life

Chocolate Fruit Cake by Baking in Pyjamas

Cinnamon Apple Cake by Fearlessly Creative Mammas

Dried Plum Stollen by Caroline’s Cooking

Festive Kid Friendly Fruitcake Muffins by A Day in the Life on a Farm

Irish Spiced Fruitcake by Making Miracles

Lemon Berries Bundt Cake by Cookin and Craftin