Ingredients
4oz raisins
4oz glace cherries, halved
4oz mixed peel
1lb currants
4oz sultanas
     This varies depending on who's getting the cake... but if you can't get one make up the weight with the others
4 medium eggs
8oz butter (room temp)
8oz soft brown sugar
8oz plain white flour
1 tsp (generous) mixed spice
4oz ground almonds
Brandy, lots of it!

The original recipe calls for steeping the fruit in brandy, but we never do, and just add it later...

1. Line a 20cm/8" diameter round cake tin or an 18cm/7" square tin with greased greaseproof paper/baking parchment, remember to leave about 1" around the top edge.
2. Preheat the oven to Gas 2/300F/150C.
3. Beat the eggs - preferably without any shell, cakes should not have crunch!
4. Cream together the butter and sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy, or your arm falls off, whichever happens first.
5. In another bowl (you will need 2 LARGE cooking bowls for this, btw) sift the flour and mixed spice over the dried fruit, add the ground almond and mix well together.
6. Gradually add the dry ingredients and egg to the butter and sugar, mixing well at each addition. It should make a thick dropping consistency, kind of like cold porridge...
    Remember to let everyone in the house have a stir and make a wish
7. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin.
8. Carefully wrap a double-thickness of newspaper around the tin, tie firmly with string or gardening wire, leave at least 2"/5cm above the tin - this will protect the top from browning until the middle is cooked, and will also add a strange bouquet of cooking newsprint to your home!
9. Bake for 3-4 hours until the fruit stops singing.
10. Do not remove the cake from the tin for at least another hour - you may require a cat/cake protection device at this point.
11. Carefully remove the cake from the tin and cool on a rack - probably overnight.
12. Once cool gently prick the surface with a skewer and pour over an eggcup's worth of brandy - about 4tbsp, i guess. Wrap in foil and place in an airtight container, biscuit tins are good, plastic ones, better.
13. 'Feed' the cake twice a week for 6 weeks then seal and hide in the back of a cupboard somewhere.
14. After 3 months you can take it out and do what you will, most of the alcohol would have evaporated off, but it should still kick a punch... if you know what i mean...