RICH GINGER CAKE

Ingredients......125gm of glace ginger (finally sliced), 600gm of mixed fruit, 200gm of glace cherries ( sliced in half), 200ml of Apera sherry, 2 and 1/2 cups of plain flour, 1 tsp of baking powder, 1 tsp of mixed spice, 250gm of butter/ marg, 250gm of soft dark brown sugar, 6 eggs, 60 gm of granulated nuts. Place the mixed fruit in the bowl of your processor and process till chopped. Place the processed mixed fruit in a large bowl with the 200ml of Apera sherry. Mix well and cover tightly with cling wrap and leave sit overnight. Next day, preheat your oven to 150 deg C. Grease a 19cm x 22cm square pan and line with baking paper. Mix together the flour, baking powder and mixed spice. In the bowl of your electric mixer cream together the butter/ marg with the sugar until the mix is soft and fluffy. In a separate bowl mix together the eggs until well beaten. Okay, now you have 3 bowls, let's start. Add 2 tbs of the flour mix along with 1/4 cup of the beaten eggs to the butter mix and repeat until the eggs are incorporated. Now mix in the remaining flour mix. Finally gently fold in the fruit mixture along with the granulated nuts until combined. Place the mixture in the prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 3 and 1/2 hours or until golden and cooked through ( test with a skewer). Leave the cake to sit in the pan for 10 minutes and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Enclose the cake in baking paper and store in an airtight container in a cupboard ...until required. In memory of Jessie Lockhead Mersey , she taught me so much about cooking .