Mini Christmas Muffins! Nice to serve at gatherings and ultimate for gifting – lengthy shelf life, packages up fantastically, straightforward to make and economical. Made with my basic Christmas cake batter, the wealthy fruit cake is moist and velvety.
Mini Christmas Muffins
Listed here are the Mini Christmas Muffins I promised in final weeks’ Vacation Reward Information!! That is simply my basic Christmas Cake transformed into mini kind. They appear so nice on a platter to serve at gatherings, and are additionally ultimate for gifting as a result of they’ve an extended shelf life. The cake is fantastically moist, wealthy with dried fruit, perfumed with Christmas spices. Dense, however gentle pudding-like, not like a brick as many retailer purchased ones are.
I additionally like that they’re straightforward 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 each and add a sprite of rosemary!
Additionally – the choice so as to add a Christmas pudding drippy glaze!
What you might want to make Mini Christmas Cakes
A LOT of dried fruit and little or no cake batter!! 🙂
1. SOAKED DRIED FRUIT (booze optionally available)
Right here’s what you want for the Soaked Dried Fruit. The fruit is soaked in both apple juice OR a mixture of apple juice and brandy (for individuals 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 at liberty 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 complete. 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, will probably be too sturdy and too bitter. I have no idea how a lot recent 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. May 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 received a definite “cake” texture – in contrast to some Christmas Muffins which are so dense they’re like consuming fudge!
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Brown sugar – Darkish brown sugar offers the cake a richer color and that’s what I exploit for my basic single giant Christmas cake. For particular person ones, I want a barely lighter colored crumb so the fruit bits stand out extra, so I exploit common brown sugar.
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Molasses / golden syrup – provides to the richness of flavour and color of cake. Both is ok – I interchange 12 months on 12 months.
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Walnuts – sub with any nuts of selection, or depart it out utterly.
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Oil AND butter – oil is what offers this cake an excellent moistness. Butter is for flavour!
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Eggs – That is what makes the cake maintain collectively slightly 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 might dome a bit of greater than pictured.
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Spices – All spice, cinnamon and nutmeg. Basic Christmas cake flavours!
The way to make Mini Christmas Muffins
The one distinction between this and my basic Christmas Cake is that I bake it in a sq. pan so I can reduce into sq. particular person desserts.
Pan measurement – I exploit 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 measurement. 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 be able to reduce into extra items. You can too 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 desserts is the fruit soaking step. Most recipes name for dried fruit to be soaked in a single day. I take a speedy strategy: simply microwave the dried fruit with juice and/or brandy, then stand for 1 hour to take in 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 amount of sugar vs butter, it received’t look creamy however you possibly can inform it’s gentle from the feel. Then beat within the oil and molasses, then the salt, spices and baking powder. Then beat within the eggs separately, beating till simply included.
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Combine within the flour utilizing a wood 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 high quality, the cake barely rises. As famous above, it’s a dense cake but it surely’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 can 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 totally cool.
2. Slicing mini desserts
I like to chop into 9 squares as a result of I feel the proportions look good and the cake is a gift-worthy measurement. To be particular, they’re 6.5cm / 2 1/2″ squares which are 4.5cm / 1.8″ tall. As famous above, be at liberty to make use of totally different measurement 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 perimeters (to make the edges 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 excellent uniform items, I trim the floor then flip them the wrong way up and adorn the bottom.
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Flip and dirt or ice – Flip the cake the wrong way up so the bottom of the cake is the facet you adorn. Then both mud with icing sugar (straightforward possibility I exploit when gift-wrapping), or adorn drippy-style with white frosting (for a basic Christmas Pudding look) or prime with fondant (see basic Christmas Cake recipe for instructions).
Reward wrapping
As I discussed earlier, Mini Christmas Muffins have of their favour as a home made gifting thought. They’re:
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Simple to make
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Economical – particularly if you happen to use a combined fruit possibility as a substitute of getting particular person dried fruits
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Simple to brighten – Only a dusting of icing sugar makes them immediately Christmassy! Although tying ribbon across the cake actually is a straightforward option to make them much more gift-worthy. 🙂
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Simple to present wrap – no want to seek out particular measurement jars of present baggage. Simply wrap in cellophane and tie with ribbon.
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Lengthy shelf life – This one is necessary to me! A number of years in the past I did cookies however they only don’t have an amazing shelf life. It’s uncommon for any cookie to actually stay in top-notch recent kind 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 know the way you current these Mini Christmas Muffins if you happen to attempt them, or the way you customise the cake to your style. Share within the feedback under – readers love getting inspiration!
Additionally, spoiler alert for my associates – you’re all getting Mini Christmas Muffins this 12 months. 😂 – Nagi x
Watch find out how to make it
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Mini Christmas Muffins – ultimate for gifting!
Prep: 30 minutes
Prepare dinner: 2 hours 30 minutes
Fruit soaking: 1 hour
Complete: 4 hours 45 minutes
Dessert
Australia, British, Western
Servings9 – 16 items
Faucet or hover to scale
Components
Quick soaked fruit (Notice 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 desserts out of it. (Notice 5 on pan measurement).
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Beating – Utilizing an electrical beater, beat butter and sugar till easy 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, separately, 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 should fill it proper to the highest (it will not spill over, the cake barely rises). Cowl the floor with paper (Notice 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 reducing.
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Slicing – Trim off the edges (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 wrong 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 option to current for serving. (Elective to incorporate for present wrapping too, however then there is a double ribbon scenario occurring – 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 should take time to return collectively, be affected person). Then modify thickness utilizing 1/2 tsp milk at a time. BE CAREFUL – it goes from too thick to too skinny very simply! Objective: Thick glaze that can ooze “pudding fashion”, as pictured, slightly than dripping in lengthy streaks. Spoon onto cake, coaxing it down the edges. Enable to set earlier than wrapping.
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Fondant – See instructions in my basic spherical Christmas Cake.
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Serving – serve with custard for a conventional expertise! Both home made 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. Generally it’s already chopped, generally not. Chop it to measurement per recipe. It isn’t recent peel. Contemporary peel shall be a lot stronger and extra bitter – unsure how a lot to make use of.
Pre chopped combined dried fruit – retailer purchased mixture of pre chopped dried fruit is ok to make use of. Chopping your personal will yield a extra moist cake (pre chopped dried fruit isn’t 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 nearly as good made with or with out alcohol, it comes down to private 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 sturdy flavoured juices shall be high quality right here. If you happen to like citrus flavour, use orange juice – you possibly can 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 seems to be good as fruit stands out!)
4. Molasses / golden syrup – provides to the richness of flavour and color of cake. Both is ok – I interchange 12 months on 12 months.
5. Cake pan measurement – 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 actual baking instances as a result of the cake may be very moist so it’s forgiving.
You can too 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 fantastic 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, seems to be like 2 to three months is the overall consensus (for fridge) and a 12 months within the freezer (for this form of cake, with no alcohol.
Diet Data:
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.
