Brigadier Anne Field's Keswick Fruitcake
- 8 ounces white raisins
- 4 ounces candied peel
- 8 ounces mixed chopped glaceed pineapple, papaya or other fruits
- 4 ounces walnuts, chopped
- 2 ounces ground almonds
- 6 ounces dried cherries
- 1/2 cup Cognac or rum
- 8 ounces butter
- 8 ounces sugar
- 4 eggs
- 8 ounces plain flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 lemon
- Grated peel of one orange
- A day in advance, put white raisins, candied peel and glaceed fruits in a bowl.
- Add walnuts and ground almonds and mix well into the fruit.
- Place the cherries in a bowl with the Cognac.
- On the day of baking, preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Cream the butter with the sugar until light colored.
- Add eggs one at a time and blend in thoroughly.
- Sift in flour, baking powder and salt.
- Grate the peel from the lemon and set aside.
- Add juice from the lemon.
- Fold in fruit and nuts, the lemon and orange peels and mix thoroughly.
- Add cherries soaked in brandy.
- Mix well.
- Line one eight-inch round or square tin or two two-pound loaf tins with double grease-proof paper, greasing the tin and paper.
- Spoon mixture into the tin(s) so that the top is flat (you can do this by knocking the tin(s) gently on the top.
- Place tin(s) in the low center of the oven.
- Bake for one hour, then turn down heat to 300 degrees for the next hour and a half to two hours or until cooked.
- Test by piercing the center of the cake with a skewer.
- It should come out very slightly sticky but pretty much clean when the cake is ready.
- When the cake is cool, wrap in aluminum foil and store in a tin in a sealed plastic container.
white raisins, candied peel, glaceed pineapple, walnuts, ground almonds, cherries, cognac, butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, salt, lemon, orange
Taken from cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/10330 (may not work)