St. Nicholas Dried-Fruit Cake

• About 1 cup (1/2 lb.) butter or margarine, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 6 large eggs
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 pound (2 2/3 cups) dried apricots
• 1/2 pound (2 cups) pecan halves
• 1/2 pound dried lightly sweetened pineapple
• 1/2 pound (2 cups) dried sweetened cranberries
• 1/2 pound (2 cups) dried cherries or blueberries
• 1/2 cup apricot jam
• 2 tablespoons orange-flavor liqueur

1. Lightly butter a 5- by 9-inch loaf pan. Line with cooking parchment.
2. In a bowl with a mixer, beat 1 cup butter with sugar until fluffy.
3. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, until well blended. Beat in molasses.
4. Mix flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, cloves, and allspice. Add to egg mixture; beat just until blended.
5. Set aside 6 to 8 apricots, 10 to 12 pecan halves, and 1 pineapple ring.
6. Cut remaining pineapple into 3/4-inch pieces and add to batter along with the remaining apricots and pecans and the cranberries and cherries. Stir until well mixed.
7. Scrape batter into parchment-lined pan, pressing firmly to eliminate air pockets; spread top level.
8. Bake in a 275u0b0 oven until cake is firm in center when touched, about 3 hours. If it browns too rapidly, drape with foil.
9. Cool in pan on rack at least 2 1/2 hours. Lift out cake; peel off parchment.
10. Mix apricot jam with liqueur and brush over top of cake. Decoratively arrange reserved apricots, pecans, and pineapple in apricot glaze; brush more apricot jam mixture over fruit. Wrap airtight and chill at least 1 day.
11. Nutritional analysis per 3 ounces.

butter, sugar, eggs, molasses, flour, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground cardamom, ground cloves, ground allspice, apricots, pecan halves, pineapple, cranberries, cherries, apricot jam, orangeflavor

Taken from www.myrecipes.com/recipe/st-nicholas-dried-fruit-cake (may not work)