For the Easter table

Rich Easter Fruit Cake

To be made in Holy Week if it is to be cut on Sunday. One 8-inch tin. Almond paste above and in the middle.

For the cake

• 8 oz (225 g) butter, softened
• 8 oz (225 g) light brown sugar
• 4 large eggs, beaten
• 8 oz (225 g) plain flour
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• 12 oz (350 g) mixed dried fruit
• 4 oz (110 g) glacé cherries, halved and rinsed
• 2 oz (55 g) mixed peel
• zest of 1 lemon
• 2 tbsp milk

For the paste

• 1 lb (450 g) almond paste
• apricot jam, warmed, to glaze
• 1 egg, beaten, to finish

Method

1. Heat the oven to 150 °C (300 °F, gas 2). Line an 8-inch deep cake tin. Beat the butter and sugar until pale. Beat in the eggs a little at a time, with a spoon of the flour if it curdles.
2. Fold in the remaining flour, spice and nutmeg, then the fruit, cherries, peel, zest and milk. The mixture should drop heavily from the spoon.
3. Put half into the tin and level it. Roll a third of the almond paste to an 8-inch round and lay it on. Cover with the rest of the mixture. Hollow the centre slightly so it will rise level.
4. Bake 2½ to 3 hours, until a skewer comes out clean. Cover the top with paper if it colours too soon. Cool in the tin.
5. Brush the top with jam. Roll half the remaining paste to cover it. Divide the last of the paste into eleven balls and set them round the edge. Brush with beaten egg. Colour under a hot grill, watching it.

The cake keeps a week in a tin, longer if you wrap it. Do not ice it as you would a Christmas cake. The paste is the finish.

One cake · eleven balls · no icing