Margaret Fulton's ChristmasCake

I make this cake every year and it is a rich fabulous cake that we can never leave alone long enough for it to mature. It's a lot of work cutting up ingredients but if you have help with it's not too bad and definitely worth the effort..


Ingredients:
Dried fruit/nut


375 g raisins chopped
375 g sultanas chopped
250 g currants chopped
125 g mixed peel chopped
125 g glace cherries halved
6 dried apricots, nectarines, peaches, (i sometimes substitute dried mango as well if i cant find peaches chopped.
125g blanched chopped almonds
4 tablespoons rum and brandy


cake mix


250g butter
250g brown sugar
finely grated rind of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons marmelade/ golden syrup
1.5 cups plain flour
.5 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon mixed spice
5 eggs
blanched almonds and glace cherries to decorate


Day before making cake:


chop all nut/ dried fruit  put into large bowl and add alcohol. Mix well.  Cover and leave overnight to soak.


Next day:
Using electric mixer beat butter until soft/ creamed.  Add lemon brown sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy. Add golden syrup. Mix well.
Sift flour, baking powder and mixed spice together in separate bowl.
Add 2 tablespoons flour mixture to dried fruit and mix well so that it doesn't sink to the bottom of the cake.
Add eggs one at a time beating well into mixture, add tablespoon of flour mix to wet mixture if it curdles in between eggs. Add the remaining flour into the cake mix and then fold through the fruit mix. You might want to transfer cake mix into huge mixing bowl to incorporate the fruit otherwise the batter wont fit. (there is a lot of it)


To prepare the tin you need a 24 cm square or round cake tin greased and lined with 2 layers of baking paper. Put the mixture into the tinand drop the tin a couple of times onto the counter to  settle the mixture int the tin.


Decorate with cherries and almonds.


BAKE


In a preheated oven at 150 degrees for 2 and 3/4 hours or until a fine skewer inserted into cake comes away clean.


HINT:


Keep checking on the cake after half way thru and cover the top with foil so it doesn't burn.


When its cooked and removed from oven turn cake upside down lift the paper and sprinkle the hot cake with extra rum/ brandy. Wrap in a clean tea-towel and leave to cool on a cake rack. Wrap in grease proof paper and then foil.


Try keeping your hands off it.... its sensational!!!

Mixed fruit ready!!! Soaking in booze.

All done ......out of oven. Now, how long before we crack it open???