Instructions

• Prepare dried fruit:
• 01 Weigh out all the dried fruit, chopped cherries and mixed peel, place into a large bowl and add brandy or citrus juice. Stir well and cover with a tea towel or plastic wrap. Leave in a cool place for 24 hours.
• Before baking prepare cake tin:
• 02 Use a 20cm round or square cake tin, lined with double layers of non stick baking paper, including an extra round circle or square for the top, which has a small hole cut out at the centre the size of your thumb.
• Make cake:
• 03 In a separate bowl sieve flour and spices together. Leave aside. In a separate large bowl beat together the softened butter and sugar until thick and creamy. Add eggs 1 tbsp at a time and beat well into the creamed butter mixture. Now add in alternative amounts stir in the soaked dried fruits, nuts, sieved flour and spices. Add zest of orange and lemon and mix well.
• Assemble:
• 04 Place the cake mixture into the prepared cake tin. Smooth the top, allowing a slight indentation in the middle, decorate with a few whole blanched almonds, and gently cover with the baking paper top, aligning the cut piece to sit centre.
• Cook:
• 05 Bake cake slowly on the lower shelf of your oven and after 4-4½ hours check cooked by placing a skewer into the middle of the cake. If cooked the skewer will come out clean, and if not, put back in the oven for another 15 minutes or so and check again. When cake is ready, remove from the oven and cover with a clean tea-towel and leave to cool in the tin.
• Store:
• 06 When cold remove from tin, keeping original lining, wrap well in extra non-stick paper and several thick layers of newspaper. Store in a cool, dark place until required. Meanwhile in between storage, say once a week, FEED the cake.
• Feeding:
• 07 In between the weeks prior to icing and eating the cake, insert small holes into the top of your cake with a daring needle or thin skewer and carefully drop small amounts of brandy into the holes. By the way, if you can a syringe is extremely useful for this process as it allows the alcohol to permeate the cake beautifully.
• Decorate:
• 08 Unwrap cake and place on a decorative cake board. Brush the cake all over with warm apricot jam. Cover with a thick layer of marzipan. Cover the top with a large white fondant star and decorate with festive ornaments. Finally wrap a festive ribbon all around the cake. Store in an airtight container until required.