Rich Bramley Apple Christmas Cake

• 1 1/3 cups raisins
• 1 5/8 cups sultanas
• 5/8 cup amaretto or brandy
• 1 cup salted butter at room temperature
• 1 3/8 cups soft brown sugar
• 4 eggs beaten
• 1 3/8 cups plain flour
• 2 teaspoons mixed spice
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 15/16 cup ground almonds
• 4 cups Bramley apples peeled, cored and roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup dates chopped
• 3/4 cup cherries chopped
• 1 1/16 cups flaked almonds
• 1 1/8 pounds marzipan
• 2 tablespoons apricot jam
• 2 1/4 pounds fondant icing white

1. Place the raisins and sultanas in a bowl then pour over half of the Amaretto. Leave to soak for 30 minutes
2. Pre heat the oven to 160C. Double line the base and sides of a 23 cm cake tin
3. Cream together the butter and sugar until pale. Stir in 1/4 of the egg mixture and 1 tbsp of the flour, then another 1/4 of the egg mixture and 1 tbsp of flour then the remaining egg and a little more of the flour
4. Once the egg is incorporated add the remaining flour, mixed spice, cinnamon and ground almonds. Stir everything together, then stir in the apples, dates, cherries, soaked fruit with any unabsorbed alcohol and flaked almonds. Once everything has combined pour into the cake tin and level the top with a spatula
5. Place in the oven for 1 1/2 -2 hours or until a skewer comes out from the centre cleanly
6. Once cooked remove from the oven then use a skewer to make a few holes in the cake then pour over the remaining alcohol. Leave to cool completely in the tin
7. To store the cake, remove from the tin and peel away the baking paper, wrap in cling film and feed with alcohol every fortnight until ready to ice
8. When you are ready to ice the cake roll the marzipan out to 3-5mm thick. Place a piece of string at the bottom of one side of the cake, then over the top and down the other side. This will give you a measure of how big you need the marzipan and icing to be rolled out to
9. Brush the cake with the apricot jam, this acts like a glue, then lay over the marzipan. Lightly press down so that it is stuck all over the cake, then use a knife to trim off any excess
10. Roll the icing out using your string to measure. You want it to be 5mm-1cm thick. Brush the marzipan with a little water then lay the icing over the top. Smooth it out with the palm of your hands then trim off any excess
11. Roll out any excess icing and use a star cutter, cut out different sizes of stars. Use a brush dampened with water to stick the stars onto the cake. Dust with sliver shimmer powder and tie a ribbon around the outside of the cake. Leave the icing to harden for 48 hours then serve

raisins, sultanas, brandy, butter, brown sugar, eggs, flour, mixed spice, ground cinnamon, ground almonds, bramley apples, dates, cherries, almonds, marzipan, apricot, fondant icing white

Taken from www.yummly.com/recipe/Rich-Bramley-apple-Christmas-cake-1568784 (may not work)