Operation Fruitcake

I just put the last of the mini-fruitcakes into the oven. I decided to bake the whole batch in muffin form. The recipe calls for brown paper lining for the pans and I have no brown paper. I do have cupcake liners, however. So there you have it.

The first 30 cakes weren't packed into the cups. It's been way too long since I make them last. I filled them to the top, then went back to the computer (no ink in the printer) and found out I should have filled them only 2-3 full. So I removed the top third and baked them. Poured rum over them when they came out of the oven. Lots of rum. I had to tip the pans to pour the excess off the tops, then lift the cakes out of the pans so they could sit on a towel and dry out a bit. There was stil rum standing in the emptied pans. Sheesh!

Over half of the batter remained. I made 18 tightly packed cakes, full to the top (I hope they don't do something weird because of that). I plan on measuring out a tablespoon of rum for each cake this time. Not to worry ... they'll get more in the morning.

Tomorrow, I'll decorate the cakes. You cut cherries in half and glue them to the top of the cakes with corn syrup. On larger cakes, you can make beautiful patterns with pecan halves, candied cherries, and pineapple. I'll make some examples on a plate tomorrow and take photos to add to the fruitcake album on my Yahoo photo site (link in sig).

In the meantime, I have posted pictures of what I've done so far, if anyone's interested. And here's the recipe:

* 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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