Janet's Jamaican rum cake

Method
Prep:1hr  ›  Cook:3hr  ›  Ready in:4hr 

1. Soak 900g mixed dried fruit and 225g glace cherries with approximately half a bottle of Sanatogen (fortified) wine and half a bottle of Wray and Nephew 63% white rum. You need enough to cover the fruit, so add equal quantities of more wine/rum if necessary. Leave the fruit for 1 to 2 weeks (but you can leave it for several months), turning fruit occasionally to make sure the booze soaks in! When it comes time to use it for the cake, if there’s plenty of liquid left in the container, don’t add it all to the cake, it will be too sloppy. Save it and drizzle over the cake when it's cooked!
2. Liquidise the soaked fruits in a food processor. Put into the largest mixing bowl you have and add the add juice and grated rind of 1/2 lemon, 1 1/2 teaspoons mixed spice, 1 dessertspoon gravy browning (makes the cake look rich and dark), 1 teaspoon grated nutmeg, 200g ground almonds and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Stir well.
3. In another bowl, mix together 500g plain flour, large pinch of salt, 2 teaspoons baking powder and 1 1/2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda.
4. Cream together 450g butter and 225g caster sugar. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla. Gradually add in 9 eggs and the flour mix – best way is to add a couple of eggs and 2 large tablespoons flour mix, blend and then add the next 'batch' until all is used and mixed in.
5. In the LARGE mixing bowl, gently mix together the creamed butter/egg/flour mix with the liquidised fruits.
6. Next, prepare your cake tins. The best ones have a removable base – double-line them with greaseproof paper, and line the base. This mix is enough for a 10” (25cm) square tin and a 6” square tin, or 1 deep 12" tin. Gently pour in the cake batter.
7. Take some old newspapers and string – tie a layer of newspaper around the tins; lay a sheet of newspaper on the oven shelf before you put the cake tin in the oven, and then put a sheet of newspaper over the cake tin when baking the cake.
8. These cakes take about 3 1/4 hours at 180 C / gas 4. Remove the covering top layer of newspaper about 30 minutes before the end of cooking time. Insert a skewer into the cake to test if its done - if it comes out clean, then its time to take the cake out.
9. Remove all the greaseproof paper, etc., and lay the cake on a wired tray to cool. Stab the cake with a metal skewer and then drizzle the rum/wine liquid over the cake. (I prefer to turn the cake over and soak from both sides – adds to the booze effect!). COOL & ENJOY!

Cook's note

This recipe gives enough fruit for two lots of baking, so just use half of it. Then, you have enough ready for the next time ;-)