christmas cake mix

hello

ok so every year i make a wonderful christmas cake its soooooo yummy. today i was thinking that i could probably make it into little cakes for isaac to munch on as a snack. my recipe has only a little butter and sugar so its quite healthy-ish.

my recipe calls for a cup of brandy but for DS1 i was thinking i could substitute it for something better ( i was thinking OJ). what could i use, i know the alcohol is cooked out of it but thought that leaving it out would be better.

- if i don't use brandy will the cake still stay fresh for a couple of months like the normal one.

- if i make them into minni muffins should i reduce the cooking time or temp. the regular cake is cooked at 150deg for 3 hours...

please help with some good ideas.

Definately reduce cooking time. See if you have any recipes for mini fruit muffins and check that temp and cooking time as it will be very different to the whole cake. I am not sure it will keep so well without alcohol. It would keep just like normal fruit cake I would think- a few weeks? Can you do half alcohol and half fruit juice? And when you soak the fruit overnight in the alcohol keep a cover off so the alcohol evaporates. Or you could make up the full mix then divide it in half and bake a smaller whole cake with alcohol for yourselves and some mini ones for DS?