I already made this week's cake for a Free Choice back in November, so I'm doing a catch up again (seems to be a trend these day).These are fruitcake cupcakes. I do not own the wreath pan, nor do I wish to own one. Even though it was on sale for $9.99 at Michael's during Christmas last year. The pan is huge and it's supposed to feed 14-16 people. I don't see how often I will get to use it, so I'd rather use the storage space for something else :).
I've macerated the candied fruits and golden raisins for this cake for 4 weeks now. I used a large canning jar and turned the jar around every day for a week, and then the jar sort of sat on the counter for the last 3 weeks.
I did not intend to macerate the fruits for that long, but things happened. Or more correctly, other cakes happened. Somehow this cake does not sound appetizing to me, which is strange, considering I like cakes with fruit so much.
Trying to figure out why this cake is not interesting, I think it's because there's way too much stuff in it. All those candied fruits, plus raisins, plus walnuts and pecans. The rum component sounds yummy though - I love cake with alcohol. And this one in particular sounds like it's on the drunk side.
Back to the recipes, the cake calls for mixing butter and brown sugar together, add eggs and vanilla, then add the remaining dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt), and finally add the candied fruits and nuts.
In cupcake form, they bake in 20 minutes. While it was cooling, I brushed a bit more rum on top of each cupcake. Why not, the more rum the merrier!
Tasting impressions:
Where did all the rum go? It was pretty rummy yesterday right after it cooled down and today all the rum taste is gone! It is not bad, but I'm not falling in love with it. I like the nuts flavor and texture with the batter but I'm not sure I'm liking the candied fruits. And I'm definitely sad that it's not a drunk cake anymore!
This one of my least favorite cake... My grandmother use to make it every year and every year I could not bring myself to like it. Like you, I totally agree, way to much stuff going on.
ReplyDeletejenn, don't be sad--douse in some more rum. leave it overnight and it will mellow as if it were baked! but you won't lose the rum as much putting it in after baking.
ReplyDeleteI really love dried fruits in cakes/baked goods; so this would be perfect for me! Also, I don't like excessively "drunk cakes," haha, unlike you. I agree with Rose Levy (above me) you can just douse the little cakes in more.
ReplyDeleteThese look almost like fruit-filled scones, and I like that concept.
ReplyDeleteMmm. Thanks, Rose, for the tip. I made it last Xmas as a gift for my friend in the fruitcake wreath pan, and we dumped extra rum on it. I have never really liked fruit cake since childhood ones, yuk, but this was really wonderful! This year I made a trifle, but next year I hope to make the fruitcake ahead of time.
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