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Recipe | Individual Christmas Fruitcakes

Merry Christmas! Try these single serve Cherry Fruitcakes (click through for full recipe)

Forget those sticky store bought fruitcakes you buy in a cheesy tin. And forget the dry, crusty slab of fruitcake your great aunt is always trying to serve you on Christmas Day. I was a fruitcake nay-sayer until I started making these individual cherry fruitcakes for Christmas. They are moist and sweet, and they are just so damn festive!

These fruity little treasures are “single serve” but as with most things, are best shared with a loved one.  I mean,  if you (like me) like to gorge yourself, even though you know you’re going to end up feeling a little sick: well then more power to you! But for those more sensible folk out there, while these cakes are small, they are still pretty dense, so going halvsies with a friend, ain’t such a bad idea after all!

On an unrelated note, I’ve been trying out this recipe plugin for my food posts the last few weeks. It’s not as pretty as when I format it myself, but it does add the option of easy print action for recipes. What do you guys think? Good or bad? Should we keep it or go back to the old way?

Merry Christmas! Try these single serve Cherry Fruitcakes (click through for full recipe) Merry Christmas! Try these single serve Cherry Fruitcakes (click through for full recipe)

Individual Christmas Fruitcakes

Ingredients

  • 1 cup of raisins
  • 1 cup of mixed peel
  • 1 cup of dried cranberries
  • 1 orange (juice and zest)
  • 1/2 cup of sherry*
  • 225g of butter
  • 1 & 1/2 cups of white sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 & 1/2 cups of flour
  • 1 teaspoon of baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
  • 1 cup of glacé cherries
  • 1 cup of icing sugar
  • 2 - 3 tablespoons of citrus juice
  • Fresh cherries and vanilla ice cream to serve (optional)

Instructions

  1. Soak your dried fruit the night before you want to make your fruitcake: combine the cranberries, raisins, mixed peel and the zest of 1 orange into a bowl. Cover with the juice of 1 orange and 1/2 cup of sherry* ensuring that the fruit is completely submerged (add a little water if needed). Cover with plastic wrap and leave to sit overnight.
  2. The next day, drain the liquid away reserving the soaked fruit. Set aside until needed.
  3. Preheat your oven to 150 degrees Celsius and grease 6 mini bundt tins.
  4. In a mixing bowl, cream together the sugar and butter until light and creamy.
  5. Add the vanilla and eggs, one at a time, beating well in between additions.
  6. In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking powder and then fold into the wet mixture, adding in small parts until combined.
  7. Slice the glacé cherries in half and add to the soaked fruit. Stir the fruit into the cake mixture gently, until well combined.
  8. Pour into the prepared tins and smooth the top. Bake for approximately 65 - 70 minutes or until a toothpick comes out cleanly (this may vary depending on your oven so keep at eye on it from the 1 hour mark onwards)
  9. Allow to cool completely before removing from the tin.
  10. Once the cake has cooled, mix together 1 cup of icing sugar and 2 - 3 tablespoons of citrus juice until a smooth glaze forms. Spoon onto each of the cakes, allowing the glaze to spill over the sides.
  11. Serve as is or with fresh cherries and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Notes

* The sherry can be omitted and replaced with water if you prefer a less boozy cake.

http://www.highwallsblog.com/2014/12/recipe-individual-christmas-fruitcakes/

Merry Christmas! Try these single serve Cherry Fruitcakes (click through for full recipe) Merry Christmas! Try these single serve Cherry Fruitcakes (click through for full recipe) Merry Christmas! Try these single serve Cherry Fruitcakes (click through for full recipe)

2 Comments
  • Lauren Lynch

    December 5, 2014 at 12:46 am Reply

    This look delicious! I normally dread fruitcake, but I’d like to try this recipe. What is “mixed peel”?

    • Dani

      December 5, 2014 at 11:52 am Reply

      Its essentially preserved citrus peel - you can find it in the dried fruit section of your local supermarket :)

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