My mother used to make this amazing Christmas cake, it has such a beautiful flavour and texture!! She used to make it two weeks before Christmas and every few days, she would pour a little bit of Cognac over the top. The result was pure bliss. The nice thing about this cake is, that you can use any dried fruit that you like and so the cake can change flavour any time you do it. It can also be made ‘gluten free’!!!!

In a large bowl, mix together:
• 350 gr raisins
• 350 gr sultanas
• 100 gr dried apricots cut into pieces
• 100 gr pineapple cut into pieces
• 100 gr pipped, dried cherries
• 50 gr mixed peel
• 100 gr dried figs cut into pieces
• 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon of ground ginger
• grated skin of 1 organic lemon and orange
• 1/2 cup of Cognac
• leave covered over night

In your food processor, mix together:
• 5 organic eggs
• 150 gr brown sugar
• 1 spoon golden syrup
• 2 tablespoons of marmalade
• 400 gr four (if you want to make it ‘gluten free’, use ground almonds instead of flour)
• 150 gr toasted almonds

• mix the fruit and the eggs mixture

• line a cake tin with grease proof paper
• pour the cake mixture into the tin
• bake in a preheated oven at 150˚ for about 2 1/2 hours

The cake keeps for at least three to four weeks in the fridge.