Main Ingredients:

See below ingredients and instructions of the recipe

Cooking Preparation of the Recipe:

2 lb Mixed dried fruit
4 oz Glace' cherries
4 oz Candied fruit
3 oz Blanched almonds
10 oz Plain flour
1 x Pinch salt
1/4 ts Bicarbonate of soda
1 ts Mixed spice
4 x Eggs
1/2 ts Flavoring (vanilla, lemon)
1 tb Blackstrap molasses
8 oz Butter
8 oz Soft brown sugar
1 x Whisky to soak fruit
250 ml Milk (to mix)

(Note: (1) The mixed dried fruit should be such things as seedless
raisins and currants. (2) The 1/2 teaspoon of "flavoring" can be
almond, or lemon, or vanilla, or a mixture of the three. (3) "Mixed
spice" is a combination of cinnamon, allspice and mace: about 1/3 of
each.) -- Find a 9-inch cake pan at least three inches deep; grease
it, and line the bottom and sides with a double thickness of greased
baking parchment. Tie folded brown paper or newspaper around the
outside of the pan. (The paper is insulation, to keep the sides of
the cake from scorching as it bakes.) Set oven to 320-300F: have
folded paper to stand the pan on when baking -- place low in oven.
Pick over the dried fruit, removing any stems, etc. Wash, drain well
and spread over a cloth on a tray to dry. When dry, put in a bowl and
pour a small wine-glass of spirit over it. Cover well and leave
overnight. -- Next day, add chopped peel, blanched chopped almonds,
and cherries minced and drained. Mix thoroughly. Sift together the
flour, salt, soda and spice. Beat the eggs well with the molasses and
flavoring. Put the butter into a large warmed bowl and beat until
soft; then add the sugar and beat until light and creamy. Beat in the
egg mixture, about a sixth of it at a time, then fold in half the
flour mixture. Add remainder of the flour to the fruit and mix well.
Add fruit to creamed mixture and fold in well. Put into pan and bake
for about 3 1/2 to 4 hours or until done. If top of cake is browning
too fast, cover with a few thicknesses of paper. Reduce the oven heat
slightly every hour -- about 10 degrees. Test with skewer for
doneness. Keep the paper wrapped around the cake in place until
completely cooled, so that the cooling takes place slowly. After
completely cooled, invert the cake, lift the baking parchment off the
bottom, and sprinkle the cake generously with the spirit of your
choice. Wrap well in foil, put in a sealed tin, and keep in a cool
place (not necessarily refrigerated) . The cake benefits from
occasional unwrappings and sprinkling with more spirit. It takes
about 2 months to achieve maximum "mellowness".

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