Fruitcake is an excuse and a way to eat fruit plump with whiskey, rum or brandy. In a traditional fruitcake Irish or British like this, the fruit is larger and exceeds the minimum amount of cake that holds everything together. The cake is baked the week before Christmas in order to be “watered” with spirits. Finish 10-inch cake covered with almond paste and royal icing, will weigh over 10 pounds. 
In Ireland and Britain, fruitcake recipes are cooked and eaten throughout the year. There is the slightest Dundee Cake and Barm Halloween Brack, who is a yeast bread. Fruitcake in its current form dates back to late 1700, although their ancestors back to the late Middle Ages. Then, as now, lighter, less fruity sweets were for cakes every day, and richer for special occasions. 
This recipe is an excellent Irish wedding cake. It was for the wedding of Ana that I first made this cake. In Ireland, a friend baked the wedding cake the couple. His mother (his “MAM”) sent me his own recipe based on one by Theodora Fitzgibbon. Ana brought the hard to find ingredients like mixed nuts and raisins in Ireland. The cake received the seal of approval of his family’s native Ireland and the groom’s family home in Philadelphia. 
One secret is that Ana makes her own candied fruit peel. The fruit cake mix sold in American grocery stores horrifies her (as I do). More than the taste stale and supernatural cake mix fruit, candied peel house has a strong aroma, fresh citrus flavor. Genuine Irish “combination skin” is an acceptable substitute (but homemade is better). Homemade shell made me a devotee of fruitcake. 
Fruit Cake is served in small pieces. 

Ingredients Required:
• 4 oz dried apricots 
• 6 oz cherries, washed and chopped 
• 1 pound raisins 
• Or: 
or 1 pound raisins 
or a pound of golden raisins 
• Or: 
currants or 8 oz 
8 oz or raisins 
• 6 oz candied citrus peel (mixed skin), chopped 
• 4 oz nuts 
• 3 / 4 cup whiskey 
• 2 ounces candied ginger, chopped 
• 1 1 / 2 c butter, softened 
• 3 / 4 cup sugar 
• 1 / 2 cup brown sugar 
• 6 eggs 
• 3 1 / 4 cup flour 
• 4 oz almonds, ground 
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice 
• 1 / 2 teaspoon nutmeg 
• 1 / 2 teaspoon salt 
• 1 orange peel, grated 
• zest of 1 lemon, grated 
• 1 apple, cored and shredded 

Directions 
Important Note:Bake cobbler in early November to give the cake flavors time to develop and meld. This recipe makes a 3×10-inch cake, two 2×9 inch cakes, three 3×6 inch cakes or 18 mini cakes baked in tins of giant muffins. 

Prepare dried fruit 
If dried apricots, soaked in water to cover for three hours, or put in a saucepan over low heat for fifteen minutes, and enjoy 30 to 45 minutes. Remove the water and cut fruit into chunks. Reserve water if making a cake or low alcohol content. 
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. 
In a baking dish, mix appricots soaked, chopped cherries, raisins, prunes, raisins, chopped nuts and candied peel. Pour half of the Spirits (6 tablespoons), strong, hot tea or soaking water reserved on the fruit. Mix fruit and cover the pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil. The heat in the oven for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until fruits are plump and sticky. Remove from oven and let cool. 
Note:This is a good stopping point to make the cake more than two days. Cover the fruit and place in a cool dry place or refrigerator. 

Preparing pan or meals 
A second person can prepare the dishes, while the baker makes cakes. Traditionally, frying pans are covered with brown paper (paper bags work well) and parchment paper. The brown paper prevents the outside of the cake burning, parchment paper prevents the cake from sticking. It may be easier to line the pan with parchment, and wrap the outside of the pan in brown paper (even if the kitchen smells of paper.) For mini cakes, the paper should be out of the cups. 
To end a pan in brown paper, cut two circles of a paper bag. The circles should be large enough to cover the bottom of the pot and come up the sides of the pot. Center the pan on the paper circle. Cut ten or twelve cuts on the edges of the paper toward the center, as if cutting the petals of a flower. Pull up the outer “petals”, and staple together where they overlap, or tie a string around the sides of the pan. Repeat for a second layer of paper. 
If making mini fruit cakes, cut a rectangle of paper as large as the outer edge of the cupcake plate plus the height of the cakes. Make a diagonal cut on each paper recorder. Center of the tray, pull up the sides of the paper and staple together (much easier to tie with string.) 

Cake Mixing Method
Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time with a tablespoon or so of flour, beating well between each egg. The flour will prevent the mixing of “jell.” Mix flour, spices, salt and ground almonds. Fold flour mixture to butter mixture and egg. 
Fold in fruit, shredded and grated apple, a bowl of large size is necessary, or use a large pot. Carefully mix in the remaining spirits (if desired). 
Pour into pan (s) and smooth tops of cakes. For mini cakes, ice cream spoon portions makes quick and clean. Pans can be filled almost to top with batter. Without yeast, the cake will rise very little. 
Note: Cakes can be baked the next day, if desired. Cover the cake with a clean sheet or parchment paper and store in a cool, dry place. 

Method of Baking cakes 
A total of 9 or 10 inch cake required 5 1 / 2 hours to bake, cakes smaller than 5 or 6 inches to 4 1 / 2 hours-2 mini cakes 3 / 4 hours. 
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cover with cake or parchment paper, aluminum foil should be out on the bright side. multiple cakes can (and should) be baked together. Bake 30 minutes. 
Reduce heat to 275 degrees and bake an additional 2 hours. 
Remove the foil or parchment, give cakes a quarter or half turn, and bake 3 hours for a large cake, 2 hours for a small cake, or 15 minutes for mini cakes. A finished cake is firm to touch. a tester inserted in center comes out clean and the cake will not “sing” to release steam. 
Allow the cakes to cool completely. Wash and dry the baking tins. Back to cakes from the molds for storage. are covered in parchment, foil or plastic wrap. Alternatively, wrap each cake in parchment paper and foil. “Irrigation” cakes 
The cakes should be allowed to sit a couple of weeks or months to combine flavors. If desired, two tablespoons of spirits should be poured or brushed onto the cake every week until Christmas. 
Cover with almond paste and frost with royal icing.