| Ingredients:
350g/12oz sultanas
225g/8oz raisins
115g/4oz currants
115g/4oz chopped dried apricots
175g/6oz dates
115g/4oz cherries, halved
115g/4oz walnuts, chopped
115g/4oz whole candied peel, chopped (I prefer to use mixed colours)
50g/2oz crystallised ginger, roughly chopped
1 small cooking apple, grated, added after soaking fruit
275g/10oz butter
275g/10oz soft brown sugar
350g/12oz plain flour
5 eggs - lightly beaten
50g/2oz ground almonds
1 level tsp. ground cinnamon
1 level tsp ground mixed spice
1 level tsp. grated nutmeg
1 dessert spoon glycerine (for easy cutting)
Method:
Fruit: - Soak overnight in 1 glass whiskey and the rind and juice of 1 orange and 1 lemon. If the orange and lemon are very juicy do not use all the juice. Soak in a large screw topped jar - keep turning the jar upside down - until all the juices are absorbed.
- Line a 230cm/9" deep round cake tin. Sift spices into flour - add ground almonds.
- Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add lightly beaten eggs a little at a time. Fold in flour mixture and soaked fruit into creamed butter & sugar in alternate batches - do not beat. Add glycerine.
- Fill prepared cake tin to ¾ from top of tin.
- Cook in preheated oven. Gas 2 or 300oF/150 oC for 1 hr then reduce temperature to Gas 1 or 275 oF/140 oC - 1 hr to 1½ hrs more depending on oven lower the oven temperature if you think necessary.
- After cooking leave to cool completely - in tin. When cold wrap in two layers of greaseproof paper then wrap in a tea towel or brown paper.
- Leave to mature, feed weekly with whisky.
- After maturing, the cake can be glazed with a mixture of boiled apricot jam and 2tsp. of water (bring to the boil and sieve.)
- The cake can be iced - or decorated with nuts and cherries before baking.
|