Well this is the recipe that I make every year for Christmas have made it now for 15yrs so it is a real tried and true recipe that everyone loves.
INGREDIENTS
100g glace cherries – washed, dried and quartered
100g mixed candied fruit peel
225g ea. Sultana’s, currants and stoned raisins (chop raisins)
225g plain flour
225g butter
225g dark brown sugar
50g ea. Ground almonds, blanched almonds (whole or slivered)
2.5mls ea. Salt, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves
2.5mls vanilla essence
5mls ground mixed spice
15mls black treacle
45mls brandy
4 eggs
Place cherries, peel, sultanas, currants, raisins, and any other fruit in a bowl and cover with ˝ cup brandy. Leave to soak over night.
Sift flour; add salt & spices together. Stir 50g of the spiced flour into the fruits making sure they are completely covered in the flour; this prevents fruit from sinking to the bottom of the cake during baking.
Cream butter until light & fluffy, gradually add the sugar and beat well. Add finely ground lemon & orange rind. In a small bowl, lightly beat eggs then add vanilla essence & treacle. Gradually add egg mixture to butter & sugar mixture, adding a tablespoon of flour a little at a time between each addition and beating well (to prevent curdling). Add fruit together with any remaining flour mixture, and then add ground almonds & blanched almonds. Mix thoroughly & pour into 20cm round cake tin, which has been double lined with greaseproof paper. Make an indent in the centre of the cake so that it will have an even surface when cooked. Wrap cake tin in double layer of brown paper to prevent cake from browning too much. Place in centre of oven and bake for 1 ˝ hours @ 150C then reduce temperature to 140C & bake for further 2 hours.
If cake begins to over brown, cover top with a circle of foil. Insert skewer into centre of cake to test if done. Leave cake in tin 30mins before turning out to cool.
Make cake in October or early November. To decorate cover top & sides with apricot jam then marzipan and fondant white icing.
Makes an 8” round cake.
Now I don't always use these exact fruits as some years I will substitute one or more of these fruits for something else such as glace pineapple, dried apricot, mangoes, peaches, dates etc. The kids don't like dried peel so I often substituted the peel for one of the others.
Enjoy anyone who tries this.