TROPICAL FRUITCAKE

2/3 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, at room temperature
3 eggs
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground mace
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
Tropical Fruit and Nut Mix (recipe follows)
Dried papaya, cut into thin slivers
About 1 1/2 cups dark rum

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Grease 10 individual loaf pans, 2 1/2 by 4 inches and 1 1/2 inches deep. If you have fewer pans, let batter stand as cakes bake in sequence.

In a large bowl, beat sugar and butter with a mixer until well-blended, then beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, mace and cloves. Add to egg mixture; stir, then beat to blend. Stir in fruit and nut mix (not papaya). Spoon batter equally into pans; spread batter evenly and smooth top. Decorate each cake with slivers of dried papaya.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean and cakes are firm when lightly pressed in center, 45 to 60 minutes. Cool in pans on a rack for 10 minutes, then invert onto rack to cool completely.

Set the cakes in a single layer in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish or pan, or set each cake on a rectangle of foil large enough to seal the cake airtight. Spoon 2 tablespoons of rum onto each cake slowly enough to let it seep in. Then wrap the dish or the individual cakes airtight in foil.

Store at room temperature at least 8 hours or up to 2 weeks; freeze to store up to 2 months.

TROPICAL FRUIT AND NUT MIX:
Combine:
1 cup dark (or golden) raisins
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup coarsely chopped dried papaya
1/2 cup coarsely chopped dried mango
1/2 cup coarsely chopped dried pineapple
1/2 cup salted macadamia nuts
1/2 cup salted pistachios

Makes ten 5-ounce cakes, about 40 servings
Source: Sunset Recipe Annual, 1992