Melt and stir sugar in a saucepan on high flame. Keep it aside for a few seconds.
Once done, switch off the flame and rest it for few seconds.
Dilute it with water without stirring on low flame.
Add cinnamon powder, candied fruits,cardamom powder, orange zest, cloves powder and nutmeg powder when it starts boiling. Stir for 10-12 minutes, until the syrup thickens.
Lastly, keep it aside to let it cool down.
Instructions for Fruit Cake:
Mix all-purpose flour, soda, baking powder and brown sugar in a bowl.
Add all the dry ingredients into it and keep it aside.
Prepare the wet mixture in another bowl using condensed milk, caramel syrup (2 tbsp.) and orange juice.
Now whisk the final mixture until no lumps are there, after combining the dry mixture to the wet mixture.
Pour in some melted butter and stir until the oil blends into the batter.
Now garnish it with dry fruits or cooked candied fruits.
Method for Oven:
In silicon moulds lined with cupcake liners, pour 2-3 tbsp of batter.
Sprinkle some chopped almonds over them. Bake at 1800 in a pre-heated oven for 30-40 minutes.
Bring it out from the oven, let it cool down for some time and then cut.
From the liners, take out all the fruit cupcakes and cut. Let them completely cool down before cutting.
Method for Pan:
Pre-heat a pan having salt spread evenly into its base for 10-12 minutes on medium flame.
Place a wire rack inside and over it, position 2 batter-filled (3-4 tbsp) small bowls.
Take 2 small size katori, grease it with oil and dust with flour.
Pour 3-4 tbsp of prepared batter in each katori. Do not fill too much as batter will rise while baking.
Now put batter filled katoris inside the heated pan onto the rack, cover the lid and let it bake for 30-35 minutes on low flame.
Once baked uncover the lid and take out the katoris from the pan and let it cool down for sometime.
Scratch the sides, turn the katori upside down and your fruit cakes are ready!
Video
Notes
Instead of brown sugar, you may use castor sugar but limit the quantity though the former is preferable for adding a nice caramel flavour and colour.
Don’t fill the batter to the brim of the moulds as it would rise while baking.