Fresh Winter Fruit Cake with Caramel Glaze

During the holidays, my husband and I had our dear friends, from Montana over for dinner.  We had a wonderful time with Zach and Holly and I had the opportunity to try out a new recipe from Rachael Ray's website rachaelraymag.com.  I thought that a Fresh Winter Fruit Cake sounded festive and would be a great dessert. 


My mother-in-law had gone on a trip to the Finger Lakes in New York.  She bought me a bag of pastry flour from The Birkett Mills company.  I used that flour for the cake.  You can find out more about Birkett Mills on their website, TheBirkettMills.com  


The recipe was pretty easy to follow although I didn't find that the batter became "thick like honey;" the batter looked liked regular batter even after letting mix for a while.  I don't think it made a difference that it wan't like honey.  The caramels were a pain to unwrap, I don't know if there is anything easier than unwrapping the candies.  I also omitted the Jack Daniels from the caramel glaze.  

The cake turned out wonderfully.  I loved the pear and cranberry combination and the caramel topping was a perfect compliment.  My friend Holly said that the cake was so good, "not just grocery store bakery good, real bakery good."  My husband may have even seen her husband take a second slice, the ultimate compliment to the chef!






Two thumbs up!!!!  Below is the link to the cake recipe:
Fresh Winter Fruit Cake