125g brazil nuts 125g whole almonds 125g walnut halves 1/4 cup dates 2 tblsp chopped peel 60g glazed red cherries 60g glazed green cherries 125g glazed pineapple 125g dried apricots 1/4 cup sultanas 1/4 cup raisins 3/4 cup plain flour 1/2 tspn baking powder 1 pinch salt 1/3 cup castor sugar 1/2 tspn vanilla 2 tblsp brandy 2 beaten eggs
Mix all dry ingredients together, sifting flour over the fruit. Beat vanilla, brandy and eggs together, stir well into dry mixture. Spoon into a greased and lined loaf (12cm * 24 cm.) cake tin and bake for 2.5 hours at 140°C.
When cool, wrap and store in the fridge.
Kaye's note:
I cooked this in a round "ring" tin for 2 hours only, since this style of container has a larger surface area. You should preserve some of the fruit and nuts from the dry mix and arrange them on the top of the before cooking, to make it look prettier. If you cover the cake with brown paper in the oven to prevent browning you could cook it the full 2.5 hours.
175g glazed cherries (red and green) 100g raisins 140g dates 300g glacé fruit chunks 340g mixed nuts (mainly whole) 1/3 cup stoneground flour 1/2 tspn baking powder 2 tblsp honey 2 eggs 2 tspn vanilla
Grease a 25 * 13 cm loaf pan or a 20 cm. ring tin and line with one layer of oiled grease proof paper.
Chop any larger fruits such as apricots, dates and pineapple into chunks and mix with the other fruit and whole nuts. Reserve a few nuts and cherries for decoration. Now dribble the honey over the whole mess. Now that you're good and sticky, sift the flour and baking powder on to the mixture and stir well.
Beat the eggs and vanilla furiously in a separate bowl, pour over the fruit and nut mix and stir well. Spoon it all into the prepared tin, packing firmly to avoid air spaces. Arrange the reserved fruit and nuts on top.
Bake in a slow oven (160°C) for 2 to 2.5 hours. If the cake is browning too quickly after one hour, cover it with foil.
To glaze, melt another 1 tblsp honey gently in a saucepan and brush over the top of the cake while hot. Leave the cake in the tin for ten minutes, loosen sides, then turn onto cake rack and remove paper. Brush the sides with remaining melted honey.
When cold, wrap in foil and store in refrigerator. Serve in thin slices. Keeps indefinitely.