Mini Cashew Coconut Rum Cup Cakes with a hint of Cream Cheese - Going "C" for Christmas

Somehow this year I didn't marinate/soak any dried fruits for the traditional Christmas cake. So was not in a mood to bake at all. Then, last weekend when holidays started for kids, thought of making it special for them and suddenly I got a sprout for baking..after all it is not right for me to deprive kids of their childhood baking memories with mamma.

Since I did no planning for this cake baking...and didn't want to drive to pickup any stuff from the store too..I had to be creative to whip up with the ingredients at hand in my pantry and fridge.

So baked Cashew Coconut Rum Cake, in a loaf and in cake cups to make it kids friendly. Also baked a Chocolate Chip Cake which I will post next.
Cashew Coconut Rum Cake with Cream Cheese Incorporated :
Addition of cream cheese gives a dense texture to this cake. To keep the spirit of traditional Christmas cake, I thought of adding rum. Since i had open Malibu Coconut flavour I used the same. You can experiment with any flavour of choice. Since this rum is too sweet, I reduced the amount of sugar to adjust the sweetness.

Ingredients :
250 gms butter(softened)
1/2 cup Cream Cheese
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs

Flour & Powders:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground allspice (optional)
1 pinch salt

Liquids
1 tbsp Vanilla extract or Coconut Essence
2 tbsp lime juice
1 cup Malibu Rum Coconut flavour
Milk or cream if necessary

Nuts:
1/4 cup Cashew nuts broken

Garnish:
Broken Cashew pieces



Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a loaf pan or which ever shaped pan using. Insert paper cup covers into tray of cup cake moulds.

Measure all ingredients and keep them ready, Take butter out of fridge before an hour to soften it.

Beat butter, sugar in a large bowl till blended and then add cream cheese and beat again till it is incorporated into the butter sugar mixture.

Crack eggs into this one by one beating in between . After adding all the eggs beat on low speed of electric mixer until blended, then on high speed for 5 minutes until light and fluffy.

Combine and swift together flour, allspice baking powder, soda and salt in a separate bowl, and fold these dry ingredients alternately with liquid ingredients. Keep mixing. Add enough milk if the batter is too thick to arrive at the right consistency for baking.

Add half of the cashew pieces to the blended mixture.

Pour into Prepared greased pan and cups tray.

Garnish with remaining broken cashew pieces.

Bake in preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes for the loaf and 20 - 30 mins for the cup cakes.

Tip : Once the cake rises and gets the shape and is browning on the top, then remove from the oven and cover it with foil, shiny side up, and bake for the remaining time or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Remove the cup cakes from the tray and store separately.