125 ml rum, brandy, or whiskey - I used an orange spiced rum
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon allspice
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
juice and zest of 2 oranges
3 eggs
150g plain flour
75g ground almonds
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
Instructions
Poach the fruit: Put the prunes, cherries, cranberries, raisins, golden raisins, butter, sugar, honey, rum, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cocoa power, and orange juice and zest in a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer, stirring for 5-10 minutes or so. Turn off the heat and leave to cool for at least an hour, possibly more.
Prepare for baking: when you're ready and your fruit is soft and cool enough not to scramble the eggs, heat an oven to 300F/150C. Line either a deep 8 inch square or a deep 9 inch springform pan (those are the pans I've used - feel free to approximate with what you have) with baking parchment.
Add the eggs to the fruit and beat to combine. Add the flour, almonds, baking soda, and baking powder, and fold until combined. Pour into the lined pan and bake for an hour and forty-five minutes to two hours.
Cool the cake in the pan. If not serving for a while, pierce the cake all over with a skewer and sprinkle 1-2 tablespoons of rum on top before wrapping the cake in parchment and foil and storing it in an airtight container. Take out the cake every week or so and feed it a bit more booze until you are ready to serve.
You can top the cake with marzipan and icing, but this year I'm going for the pure cake experience with no added adornment.
Recipe by The Bright Kitchen at https://www.thebrightkitchen.com/fruity-christmas-cake/