Island Fruitcake With Cinnamon Rum Cream Cheese Icing Recipes

FRUITCAKE WITH RUM

Steps:

• In a large bowl mix the first nine ingredients. Pour rum over and stir. Cover and let sit overnight. Stirring occasionally.
• In a large bowl cream the butter with the brown sugar until fluffy.
• Beat in eggs one at a time beating well after each egg.
• In a medium bowl sift 2 cups of the flour with baking powder,salt, cinnamon, allspice and cloves.
• Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and stir well.
• Toss 1/4 cup flour with the rum soaked fruits.
• Pour batter over the fruit mixture and mix really well. Batter will be very thick.
• Spoon into two 9 X 5 loaf pans lined with greased brown paper. Smooth the tops of the batter in the pans. If you wish arrange some candied cherries and almonds on top of batter.
• Place pans in middle of the oven which has been preheated to 275°F Also place a shallow pan of water on the bottom rack. Bake for 3 to 3 1/2 hours or until toothpick comes out clean. Place loaves in pan on rack for 15 minutes to cool completely. Remove paper or foil and wrap in rum soaked cheesecloth and wrap in foil. Store in cool, dry place for several weeks.

CREAM CHEESE FRUITCAKE

Steps:

• To make the fruit & nut mix, chop up an assortment of dried fruits and nuts of your choice. Typically, my mom uses raisins, pineapple, papaya, green & red glacé cherries, and pecans. Smaller dried fruits like raisins don't need to be cut, but dice up the other fruits and the nuts. Now measure out 3 cups worth of the mixture and mix it up with the remaining 1/2 cup of flour (this is done so that the fruits and nuts won't all sink to the bottom of your cake when baking).
• Preheat the oven to 325°F
• Cream the butter and sugar together. Mix in the cream cheese.
• Add the eggs in one at a time, mixing after each addition. Add the vanilla extract.
• In another bowl, mix the dry ingredients: 2 cups flour, the baking powder, and the salt.
• Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients; the batter will be quite thick.
• When barely any streaks remain, mix in the flour-covered fruit & nut mix. Only on few strokes of your spatula are needed; do not overmix.
• Spray a loaf pan (9x5 in) with nonstick spray and line the bottom of the pan with a rectangle of parchment paper.
• Scrape your batter into the loaf pan, smoothing the top.
• Place in the oven and let bake for 60-70 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.
• If near the end of baking, the inside of the cake is still wet but the top is browning too quickly, cover the top with a sheet of foil.
• Let your cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to finish cooking.