NonAlcoholic Fruitcake

Wow! Crash, who has sworn that he hates fruitcake, tasted a slice of one of the cupcakes I made, and actually liked it! I always use pecans (personal preference), but he said it needed walnuts. I'll cut back on the mixed fruit and use more whole candied cherries for the next batch. And I'll use both red and green.

Here's the issue. Crash is a recovering alcoholic. He gave the fruitcake back to me after taking one slice and told me if he finished it, it would set him off. Rum was his drink of choice. He just asked me to hide the rest of the bottle. He can handle small amounts of other alcoholic beverages (wine, wine coolers, etc.), but not hard liquors.

Is there anything about fruitcake that makes it require booze? I'd like to make this for him again, but I don't want the cake to be super-dry for lack of hootch.

My thoughts: Pre-soak the fruits with orange juice? Add more of something to the batter recipe for moisture? Here is the recipe. Pics are available at link in my sig. I need to use *this* recipe, but am wondering if it needs alterations.

* Exported from MasterCook *

Fruitcake

Recipe By :Damsel Serving Size : 0 Preparation Time :0:00 Categories : cakes

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- ----BATTER---- 1 cup sugar 1 cup butter 1-8 teaspoon salt 1-4 teaspoon cinnamon 1-4 teaspoon mace 1-4 teaspoon nutmeg 1-4 teaspoon cardamom 6 large eggs 2 teaspoons lemon extract 2 teaspoons vanilla 2 teaspoons sherry 2 1-2 cups flour ----FRUIT MIXTURE---- 1-2 pound candied cherries 1 pound golden raisins 1-2 pound seedless raisins 1-2 pound currants 1-2 pound chopped pecans 1 pound mixed fruitcake fruit flour -- to coat fruit

In a large bowl, combine batter ingredients in the order given, beating in one egg at a time. In a huge bowl, combine fruits and nuts. Add enough flour to the fruit mixture to coat lightly. Pour batter over fruit mixture; combine well.

Line baking pans with at least two layers of heavy brown paper, such as postal wrapping paper, or grocery bags. (Instructions at end of post, if needed) Spoon batter into pans, filling no more than 2-3 full.. Place shallow pan of water in bottom of 300 degree oven and bake cakes until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean (1-1-2 hours for 1 pound cake, 2-1-2 to 3 hours for larger cakes) Remove from oven and pour rum over cakes while still hot. When cooled just enough to handle, remove paper from cakes and cool on a wire rack.

When thoroughly cooled, saturate with more rum (optional). Decorate tops with candied fruits, attached to cake with corn syrup. Examples: *One-half red cherry in center, with thin wedge-shaped slices of green pineapple on each side (rectangular cakes) *One-half green cherry in center, with thin wedge-shaped slices of yellow pineapple on each side (rectangular cakes) *Pecan half in center, with pineapple on each end (rectangular cakes) *One-half cherry with thin wedge-shaped slices of pineapple forming a starburst around cherry center (round cakes)

Wrap neatly with plastic wrap, using tape to secure wrap at the bottom of each loaf.

Baking containers: *Any size loaf pan. I like to make tiny, individual-sized cakes for gift-giving. *Short coffee or sweet potato (yam) cans.

Lining baking pans: *Cut paper to size. Be sure to allow enough to cover bottom of pan, and up the sides. *Mark the paper (on the side that will be away from the cake) to the size and shape of the pan bottom. *For a rectangular pan, cut the paper from the outside corner to the marked corner, and stop there. Do this with all four corners. Place paper into pan, covering bottoms and sides of pan, and wrap excess paper around corners, inside the pan. *For a round pan, follow the same procedure, but cut the paper from the outside edges to the marked base of pan, cutting several times, in a starburst-type pattern.

Source: "Pat and Carol Zastera" Yield: "4 1-2 pounds"

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