Mini Christmas Desserts! Nice to serve at gatherings and very best for gifting – lengthy shelf life, packages up superbly, simple to make and economical. Made with my traditional Christmas cake batter, the wealthy fruit cake is moist and velvety.
Mini Christmas Desserts
Listed here are the Mini Christmas Desserts I promised in final weeks’ Vacation Present Information!! That is simply my traditional Christmas Cake transformed into mini type. They give the impression of being so nice on a platter to serve at gatherings, and are additionally very best for gifting as a result of they’ve an extended shelf life. The cake is superbly moist, wealthy with dried fruit, perfumed with Christmas spices. Dense, however delicate pudding-like, not like a brick as many retailer purchased ones are.
I additionally like that they’re simple to decorate up for serving and gifting, as a result of this Christmas Cake is designed to be eaten plain. So that you don’t must fuss to work round frosting or add a sauce for serving. Simply mud with icing sugar, then for an additional Christmassy contact, tie a ribbon round every one and add a sprite of rosemary!
Additionally – the choice so as to add a Christmas pudding drippy glaze!
What you want to make Mini Christmas Cakes
A LOT of dried fruit and little or no cake batter!! 🙂
1. SOAKED DRIED FRUIT (booze elective)
Right here’s what you want for the Soaked Dried Fruit. The fruit is soaked in both apple juice OR a mix of apple juice and brandy (for many who like boozy Christmas Cake).
Dried fruit combine speedy possibility – Whereas I like to cut my very own dried fruit (cake is softer, you get higher flavour and I can use the ratios I like), be happy to make use of a retailer purchased mixture of pre chopped dried fruit for comfort.
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Use any dried fruit you need – So long as it weighs 855g / 30 oz in whole. The choice above is the combo I like!
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Blended peel is a retailer purchased mixture of dried, crystallised (ie sugared) lemon and orange peel. Normally it comes pre chopped – I like to cut it a bit finer. I like much less citrus peel than some recipes as a result of I’m too scarred by all these instances I bit into an enormous piece of orange peel. Simply to not my style! Don’t use FRESH orange and lemon peel, it is going to be too robust and too bitter. I have no idea how a lot contemporary peel to substitute this for.
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Juice and/or booze – for a conventional boozy Christmas Cake, simply swap 1/3 of the apple juice with brandy. Can even sub apple juice with orange juice if you’d like a stronger citrus flavour.
2. CHRISTMAS CAKE BATTER
And right here’s what you want for the cake batter half. The cake has little or no baking powder as a result of it’s fairly a dense cake with a pudding-like texture. Nevertheless it’s nonetheless bought a definite “cake” texture – not like some Christmas Desserts which are so dense they’re like consuming fudge!
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Brown sugar – Darkish brown sugar provides the cake a richer color and that’s what I take advantage of for my traditional single giant Christmas cake. For particular person ones, I favor a barely lighter colored crumb so the fruit bits stand out extra, so I take advantage of common brown sugar.
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Molasses / golden syrup – provides to the richness of flavour and color of cake. Both is okay – I interchange 12 months on 12 months.
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Walnuts – sub with any nuts of selection, or go away it out utterly.
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Oil AND butter – oil is what provides this cake an outstanding moistness. Butter is for flavour!
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Eggs – That is what makes the cake maintain collectively reasonably than being crumbly.
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Flour – Simply common plain / all-purpose flour. Self elevating flour can be utilized to substitute the flour and baking powder however the cake could dome a bit of greater than pictured.
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Spices – All spice, cinnamon and nutmeg. Traditional Christmas cake flavours!
How one can make Mini Christmas Desserts
The one distinction between this and my traditional Christmas Cake is that I bake it in a sq. pan so I can reduce into sq. particular person muffins.
Pan dimension – I take advantage of a 20 cm / 8″ sq. pan which makes a 4.5cm / 1.8″ tall cake so when reduce into 9 squares, they’re a pleasant tall peak and spectacular gift-giving dimension. Be happy to make use of a bigger pan – for instance, a 23 x 33cm / 9 x 13″ pan will make a 2.3cm / 1″ tall cake which you’ll reduce into extra items. You may also use a muffin tin lined with silver foil patties.
1. Baking the Christmas cake
The important thing step that makes this a lot quicker to make than different fruit muffins is the fruit soaking step. Most recipes name for dried fruit to be soaked in a single day. I take a speedy method: simply microwave the dried fruit with juice and/or brandy, then stand for 1 hour to absorb the liquid. A lot quicker – and simply as efficient!
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Soak fruit – Microwave the dried fruit with the juice/model for 1 1/2 minutes or till sizzling. Stir to coat then put aside for 1 hour to let the fruit take in the liquid and plump up.
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Batter – Beat the butter and sugar for 1 minute till gentle and fluffy. Due to the quantity of sugar vs butter, it received’t look creamy however you’ll be able to inform it’s delicate from the feel. Then beat within the oil and molasses, then the salt, spices and baking powder. Then beat within the eggs one by one, beating till simply included.
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Combine within the flour utilizing a picket spoon.
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Soaked fruit – Then combine within the dried fruit, together with any residual liquid left within the backside of the bowl.
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Pan – Pour the batter right into a lined 20cm / 8″ pan. It can fill it proper to the highest and that’s wonderful, the cake barely rises. As famous above, it’s a dense cake nevertheless it’s not brick-like! It’s nonetheless distinctly cakey.
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Bake 2 1/2 hours – Cowl the cake with a sheet of baking paper (which is able to peel off with out ripping the cake floor off), then foil. Then bake for two hours, take away foil and paper, then bake for an extra half-hour uncovered to color the floor.
Cool – Take away the cake from the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes within the pan earlier than transferred to a rack to completely cool.
2. Slicing mini muffins
I like to chop into 9 squares as a result of I believe the proportions look good and the cake is a gift-worthy dimension. To be particular, they’re 6.5cm / 2 1/2″ squares which are 4.5cm / 1.8″ tall. As famous above, be happy to make use of totally different dimension pans. For instance, a 23 x 33cm / 9 x 13″ pan will make a cake that’s 2.3cm / 1″ tall and it is possible for you to to chop many extra items.
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Slicing – Trim the sides (to make the perimeters neat). Then reduce the cake into items as desired. I do 9 squares.
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Trim floor – The floor of the cake is ever so barely domed. So to make the Christmas Cake into good uniform items, I trim the floor then flip them the other way up and adorn the bottom.
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Flip and dirt or ice – Flip the cake the other way up so the bottom of the cake is the facet you adorn. Then both mud with icing sugar (simple possibility I take advantage of when gift-wrapping), or adorn drippy-style with white frosting (for a traditional Christmas Pudding look) or prime with fondant (see traditional Christmas Cake recipe for instructions).
Present wrapping
As I discussed earlier, Mini Christmas Desserts have of their favour as a selfmade gifting concept. They’re:
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Straightforward to make
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Economical – particularly for those who use a combined fruit possibility as an alternative of getting particular person dried fruits
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Straightforward to embellish – Only a dusting of icing sugar makes them immediately Christmassy! Although tying ribbon across the cake actually is a simple strategy to make them much more gift-worthy. 🙂
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Straightforward to present wrap – no want to search out particular dimension jars of present luggage. Simply wrap in cellophane and tie with ribbon.
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Lengthy shelf life – This one is essential to me! Just a few years in the past I did cookies however they simply don’t have an amazing shelf life. It’s uncommon for any cookie to really stay in top-notch contemporary type past 2 days. Wheres the Christmas Cake? I’ve stored mine within the fridge for a month and it was nonetheless like freshly made. How good is that!
Like to understand how you current these Mini Christmas Desserts for those who strive them, or the way you customise the cake to your style. Share within the feedback beneath – readers love getting inspiration!
Additionally, spoiler alert for my associates – you’re all getting Mini Christmas Desserts this 12 months. 😂 – Nagi x
Watch the way to make it
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Mini Christmas Desserts – very best for gifting!
Prep: 30 minutes
Cook dinner: 2 hours 30 minutes
Fruit soaking: 1 hour
Whole: 4 hours 45 minutes
Dessert
Australia, British, Western
Servings9 – 16 items
Faucet or hover to scale
Substances
Quick soaked fruit (Observe 1):
Christmas Pudding Drippy Glaze
Directions
Quick Soaked Fruit:
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Warmth – Place dried fruit and juice/brandy in a big microwavable container. Microwave 1 1/2 minutes on excessive or till sizzling.
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Soak – Stir to coat all fruit in liquid. Cowl then put aside for 1 hour (to plump up/soak and funky).
Cake:
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Preheat oven to 160°C / 320°F (140°C fan). Grease and line a 20cm / 8″ sq. cake pan with baking paper / parchment paper, or bigger pan to get extra muffins out of it. (Observe 5 on pan dimension).
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Beating – Utilizing an electrical beater, beat butter and sugar till clean and creamy (about 1 minute on velocity 5). Add oil and molasses, beat till mixed. Add salt, spices and baking powder – beat till included. Add eggs, one by one, beating till simply included.
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Stir in the flour, then the dried fruit (together with all the additional liquid in bowl) and walnuts (if utilizing).
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Pour into the cake pan, it’s going to fill it proper to the highest (it will not spill over, the cake barely rises). Cowl the floor with paper (Observe 6) then cowl with foil.
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Bake 2 1/2 hours – Bake for two hours, take away the foil and paper, then bake for an extra half-hour. A skewer inserted into center ought to come out clear with no batter on it.
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Take away from oven and funky for 20 minutes earlier than transferring to cooling rack. Cool utterly earlier than chopping.
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Slicing – Trim off the perimeters (to make them neat). Then reduce into 9 squares (or extra, if you’d like). Trim the floor (to make them stage because the cake barely domes). Then flip the other way up and adorn the bottom of the cake.
Adorning, gifting and serving
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Easy – Mud with icing sugar. That is all this cake wants, it is so full flavoured and moist! Wrap with cellophane and ribbon to present.
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Ribbon – Wrap and tie a ribbon round every cake. Good strategy to current for serving. (Non-obligatory to incorporate for present wrapping too, however then there is a double ribbon state of affairs taking place – ie ribbon and cake, ribbon on cellophane!)
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Drippy white glaze – Combine the icing sugar, butter, vanilla and begin with 2 tbsp milk. Combine very well (it’s going to take time to return collectively, be affected person). Then regulate thickness utilizing 1/2 tsp milk at a time. BE CAREFUL – it goes from too thick to too skinny very simply! Purpose: Thick glaze that can ooze “pudding type”, as pictured, reasonably than dripping in lengthy streaks. Spoon onto cake, coaxing it down the perimeters. Enable to set earlier than wrapping.
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Fondant – See instructions in my traditional spherical Christmas Cake.
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Serving – serve with custard for a conventional expertise! Both selfmade custard or retailer purchased pouring custard.
Recipe Notes:
Blended peel is a retailer purchased mixture of diced, dried, crystallised (ie candy) orange and lemon peel. Typically it’s already chopped, generally not. Chop it to dimension per recipe. It’s not contemporary peel. Contemporary peel will likely be a lot stronger and extra bitter – undecided how a lot to make use of.
Pre chopped combined dried fruit – retailer purchased mixture of pre chopped dried fruit is okay to make use of. Chopping your individual will yield a extra moist cake (pre chopped dried fruit will not be as moist) BUT having stated that, this cake is so extremely moist, it has the give to make use of pre chopped!
2. Juice / brandy – this cake tastes simply pretty much as good made with or with out alcohol, it comes down to non-public style. I normally make it with out as a result of Christmas Cake stretches far and I need everybody to have the ability to eat it.
BRANDY – If you wish to use brandy, use 1/3 cup brandy PLUS 2/3 cup + 2 tbsp juice.
Juice – I like utilizing apple juice for its impartial flavour. Pineapple and different not so robust flavoured juices will likely be wonderful right here. In the event you like citrus flavour, use orange juice – you’ll be able to style it a bit greater than different juices.
3. Darkish brown sugar – makes the cake a wealthy darkish brown color. Can sub with regular brown sugar – will make cake lighter (additionally appears to be like good as fruit stands out!)
4. Molasses / golden syrup – provides to the richness of flavour and color of cake. Both is okay – I interchange 12 months on 12 months.
5. Cake pan dimension – A sq. 20cm/8″ pan makes a 4.5cm / 1.8″ tall cake which is a pleasant peak for 9 squares. Be happy to make this cake in a bigger cake pan. a 23 x 33cm/9 x 13″ pan will make a cake 2.3cm / 0.9″ thick, it takes round 1 hour 45 minutes to bake (coated for 1 hour quarter-hour, then uncovered for half-hour). Don’t fret about precise baking instances as a result of the cake could be very moist so it’s forgiving.
You may also use a muffin tin – silver liners look pretty. They take round 25 minutes to bake (no must cowl, simply bake uncovered).
6. Serving – cake is moist and so full flavoured it’s great eaten plain. However for an additional particular contact, serve with custard.
7. Storage – I’ve stored it for a month in an hermetic container within the fridge and it was good because it was freshly made (at room temperature). Having researched on-line, appears to be like like 2 to three months is the final consensus (for fridge) and a 12 months within the freezer (for this form of cake, with no alcohol.
Diet Info:
Energy: 388cal (19%)Carbohydrates: 64g (21%)Protein: 4g (8%)Fats: 15g (23%)Saturated Fats: 9g (56%)Ldl cholesterol: 38mg (13%)Sodium: 127mg (6%)Potassium: 413mg (12%)Fiber: 3g (13%)Sugar: 37g (41%)Vitamin A: 469IU (9%)Vitamin C: 1mg (1%)Calcium: 50mg (5%)Iron: 2mg (11%)
Lifetime of Dozer
Pleading for assist.
