04:00
8″ deep tin
Electric whisk
- 225g light br. sugar
- 225g butter
- 1 tbsp treacle
- 255g pl. flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp mixed spice
- 4 eggs
- 910g dried fruit
- 115g glace cherries
- 115g candied peel
- 50g blanched chopped almonds
- 2 tbsp brandy
My grandfather’s recipe which he gave my mum a handwritten version of – so a 3rd generation recipe. Along with converting it to an electronic version, I have updated the ingredient weights to metric to prevent future conversion and shopping faux pas’.
- Preheat over to 130c and line a deep 8″ tin with a double layer of parchment
- Beat 225g light br. sugar and 225g butter together until light and fluffy. Then beat in 1 tbsp treacle
- Mix in the 4 eggs, 255g pl. flour, 1 tsp mixed spice and 1/4 tsp salt
- Stir in by hand (unless you now own a kitchenaid as it will burn out the motor of the electric hand whisk) the 910g dried fruit, 115g cherries, 115g candied peel and 50g blanched almonds
- Pour into the tin, make a well in the middle (so the batter can spread as it cooks) and pop in the oven
- Cook at 130c for 2hrs
- Reduce oven to 100c and cook until done (another 45 mins or so)
- Leave it in the tin to cool for 20 mins and then turn out
- Poke holes over the top of the cake with a skewer and then brush 2 tbsp brandy all over and then leave to cool fully
- If you dont like it too boozy, you can decorate straight away. If you like it a bit stronger, wrap it tightly up in foil and it will keep for a few weeks – you can even feed it more brandy over the few weeks until you want it