90 Minute Fruit Cake

Bake-a-thon 2014: Day 11

Bake of the Day: 90 Minute Fruit Cake

Christmas is just 1 day away. If you didn't make a fruitcake and think you don't have time to make it, think again. This 90 minute fruitcake is just for you. Instead of making loaves or round shaped fruitcakes, these mini bundt cakes are very easy to put together and taste almost like the regular fruitcake.

Last year I made an eggless Christmas Fruitcake that involved soaking in the dry fruit and nuts in orange juice or some kind of alcohol for at least 1 day or more to get the best flavor. This year I wanted to make something different and when I saw these mini bundt cake recipe in the King Arthur catalog, I knew I found myself a good recipe.

This cake has all the trimmings of the regular fruitcake like the spices and fruit & nuts, but this one is less complicated and less time consuming, which is perfect when you are trying to make it at the last minute. If you have a mini cakelette or mini bundt pan, you will have a dozen delicious fruitcakes out of the oven in half an hour.

Ingredients: Makes 12 muffin sized mini bundt cakes.
All Purpose flour - 1½cups
Unsalted Butter - ½cup, softened  

Sugar - ¾cup
Ground Cinnamon - 1tsp
Ground Ginger - ½tsp
Baking Powder - 2tsp
Salt - ½tsp
Vanilla Extract - 1tsp
Eggs - 2 large (or use 2tbsp egg replacer whisked with 6tbsp water)
Crushed Pineapple - 1cup, undrained
Dry Fruit of choice - 1cup (I used a mixture of dried cherries, raisins, aprictos, cranberries)
Walnuts or Pecans - ½cup, chopped
Red Candied Cherries - ½cup, halved (I didn't have these)

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease the wells of the bundt cake pan.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine butter, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, baking powder, salt and vanilla. Beat until smooth.
• Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
• Add the flour and stir to combine. Stir in pineapple, dry fruit, nuts and candied cherries (if using).
• Divide the batter evenly between the wells of the prepared pan.
• Bake for 15~18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
• Transfer the pan to a wire rack and cool for 5 minutes before turning the cakes out onto the rack to cool completely.
• Once cooled, sift some confectioners sugar or drizzle a simple sugar glaze on top. Enjoy!!

Linking this to this year's Bake-a-thon event.

Bake-a-thon 2014

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