Medlock Ames Epic Fruit Cake

There is something special about a rich fruit cake smothered in thick marzipan and fondant icing. To me, it is an edible symbol of this time of year with a decadent richness and touch of seasonal spice. Make it at least 4 weeks before you plan on eating it as it improves dramatically with a little age. Seriously. This recipe is tried and tested – my copy is hand written by a Scottish grandmother (with even notes on the whisky to use). Will make a ¾ lb cake but can be scaled up or down according to appetite. Like all good recipes, feel free to amend as you see fit and make it your own.

• golden raisins a ‘heavy’4 cups
• raisins 1 ½ cups
• currants ¾ cup
• glace cherries ¾ cup
• mixed peel (assorted candied citrus peel) ¾ cup
• unsalted butter 1 ½ cups
• brown sugar 1 ½ cups
• six large eggs (local, fresh with thick rich yolks if possible)
• marmalade (we use our own) 4 tablespoons
• all purpose flour 3 ½ cups
• ‘spirit’ 1 cup
• mixed spice 1 ½ teaspoons
• cinnamon ¼ teaspoon
• nutmeg ¼ teaspoon
• almond extract 1 teaspoon
• salt ¼ teaspoon
• grated citrus zest 3 teaspoons

Lay all the fruit in a bowl and combine with your choice of spirit (leave a small amount for later if you have the discipline) – I use single malt whisky (Ardbeg or Highland Park) but rum, sherry, brandy or marsala are worthy replacements. Let it soak up overnight. Then, heat oven to 300F and line a 10 inch round cake tin with a couple of layers of baking parchment so that it overlaps the top of the tin by at least 5 inches (super important to avoid scorching). Beat butter with sugar and then add citrus zest followed by the eggs then the marmalade. Sieve the dry ingredients together and then gradually combine this together with the soaked fruit and the cake mixture itself. Take time to combine thoroughly and then add the almond essence. Pour into tin and then bake for an hour before reducing temperature to 250¢ªF for a further 3 hours. Test cake with a skewer (comes out clean) before brushing the outside with the additional ‘spirit’ and then wrapping whole pan in a thick blanket of aluminum foil: this key step helps keep cake moist by trapping steam. Store the cooled cake in a fresh foil wrapper inside an airtight container for a month of aging before icing…

• marmalade ¾ cup marzipan 18 oz
• confectioners sugar (just enough to dust with!)
• ready to roll icing 2 lb (or more if you like)

Heat the marmalade in a saucepan, taking care to remove the peel before brushing on outside of cake to make a sticky layer onto which the marzipan (rolled on sugar to stop it from sticking) can be placed. Make sure that the marzipan layer is tight and smooth so that the icing has a good foundation, then repeat the rolling and layering with that thick icing. When finished, you should have a heavy slab if seasonal goodness to share with guests, friends and family. A little of this goes a long way.