Best Tropical Fruit Cake-annrms

[wilderness]

Best Tropical Fruit Cake-annrms

Prep Time: 45 minutes Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes Servings: 4 Source: Mostlybakes.com
Ingredients

For the batter:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

1 cup granulated sugar

5 eggs

1 1/3 cups A.P. Flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. vanilla

For the fruit:

1 tsp. lime zest

2 tsp. lime juice

1/4 cup Two James Doctor Bird Rum

1/4 cup Trader Vic’s Spiced Rum

2 cups dry roasted, salted macadamia nuts, roughly 1/4 inch diced

2 cups walnuts, roughly 1/4 inch diced

2 cups dried, candied pineapple, 1/4 inch diced

1/4 cup sweetened coconut

1 cup dried, candied mango, 1/4 inch diced

1 cup dried, candied kiwi, 1/4 inch diced

1 cup dried, candied papaya, 1/4 inch diced

For brushing the fruitcakes after baking

An additional 1/2 cup Trader Vic’s Spiced Rum
Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Line your loaf pans with either baking cups or slips of parchment paper for easier removal. Set aside.

If using baking containers designed for sharing, you can skip this step. See notes section on quantities.

Prepare the fruit

In a large glass or stainless steel bowl, mix together the chopped fruit and nuts.

Mix together the rums, lime juice and zest. Pour over the fruit and nut mixture and let stand for 30 minutes. This gives the fruit time to absorb the liquid.

Prepare the cake batter

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add the vanilla and the eggs, one at a time. Scrape down the sides of the bowl between additions.

Sift the flour and baking powder into the butter mixture and blend thoroughly.

After the fruit has rested for 30 minutes, add it to the batter.

Mix the batter until all the fruit is evenly incorporated. You may need to use a spatula to finish mixing.

Spoon the batter into the prepared baking pans and level the tops of the batter with a small spatula or the back of a spoon.

Bake at 300 degrees F. until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the loaf comes out clean. For small loaves, this will be roughly 70 minutes. Larger loaves may take 90 minutes.

Brush the cakes with rum

After removing the cakes from the oven, and while the cakes are still warm, brush them lightly with an additional 1/2 cup of Trader Vic’s Spiced Rum. Rotate through all the cakes until all the rum is used. Allow the cakes to finish cooling to room temperature. Store in an airtight container for two days before slicing.
Notes

How many fruit cakes does one recipe make? If you are using a standard-size fruitcake loaf pan as pictured above, you can expect to get between 3 – 4 large fruitcakes from one recipe. If you are using miniature loaf pans, you can expect 14-16 small loafs. This is my personal favorite size to include in a holiday cookie assortment.

Why do I need to let the cakes rest for two days before cutting? Trust me, your patience will be rewarded. The texture of this cake actually improves the longer it sits. The moisture from the fruit and the rum creates the beautiful, smooth texture of this cake as everything marries. The flavor of the rum mellows, the color of the fruit becomes like wet beach glass and the cake becomes so easy to cut. You can cut into the cake immediately, but it will crumble and the rum flavor will be too forward – working against the flavors in the cake, instead of with it.

Can I use a food processor to chop the fruit and nuts? I do not recommend using a food processor for this recipe. The candied fruit is sticky and can gum up the blade, without giving you an even dice on the fruit. I also do not recommend using the food processor for the macadamia nuts. Because macadamia nuts are so soft and fatty, I found they just mushed up with just a few pulses. Better to chop my hand.