Ingredients

• 350g/12oz red or natural (uncoloured) glacé cherries
• rinsed
• dried and cut into quarters
• 225g/8oz tinned pineapple in pineapple juice
• drained
• dried and roughly chopped
• 50g/2oz ready-to-eat dried apricots
• chopped
• 100g/3½oz blanched almonds
• roughly chopped
• 2 lemons
• finely grated zest only
• 350g/12oz sultanas
• 250g/9oz unsalted butter
• softened
• plus extra for greasing
• 250g/9oz caster sugar
• 5 large free-range eggs
• lightly beaten
• 250g/9oz self-raising flour
• 75g/2½oz ground almonds
• small handful blanched whole almonds
• small handful walnut halves
• small handful red or natural (uncoloured) glacé cherries
• halved
• 50g/1¾oz whole orange peel (available from health-food shops)
• cut into pieces
• 100g/3½oz apricot jam

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 160C/140C Fan/Gas 3. Grease a deep
• 23cm/9in round cake tin with butter
• then line the base and sides with a double layer of baking parchment.
• In a bowl
• gently mix together the cherries
• pineapple
• apricots
• almonds
• lemon zest and sultanas until well combined. Set aside.
• In a food processor
• cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Pour in the beaten eggs a little at a time
• adding a spoonful of the flour to prevent the mixture from curdling and pulsing after each addition.
• Carefully fold the remaining flour and ground almonds into the cake mixture using a metal spoon
• then gently fold in the fruit and nut mixture until just combined.
• Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the surface using a palette knife.
• For the topping
• decorate the cake with the blanched whole almonds
• walnut halves
• glacé cherry halves and orange peel.
• Bake the cake in the oven for 2-2¼ hours
• or until golden-brown on top and cooked through. (The cake is cooked through when a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.) Cover the cake loosely with aluminium foil after one hour to prevent the top from becoming too dark.
• Set the cake aside in its tin to cool for 30 minutes
• then remove from the tin
• peel the baking parchment away from the sides and place onto a wire rack to cool completely.
• Meanwhile
• heat the apricot jam in a small pan over a low heat
• then strain through a fine sieve to remove any pieces of fruit. When the cake has cooled
• brush the top all over with the warm apricot jam. Wrap a ribbon around the cake and tie with a bow
• if desired
• then serve.