Ingredients
- 100 g butter
- 100 g soft brown sugar
- 3 eggs
- 125 g white flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 level tsp mixed spice
- 1 measure Orkney spiced rum
- 625 g assorted vine fruits (sultanas, cherries/ candied peel)
- 25 g almonds broken up
- 1 Lemon zest only
- 1 orange zest only
- 1 grated apple no need to peel
- egg to glaze
- apricot jam to glaze
- Almond Paste
- 200 g ground almonds
- 200 g caster sugar
- 1 egg
- a dash of J Gow Orkney spiced rum
Servings: many
Instructions
- Line the base and sides of a 17cm round, with parchment.
- Place all almond paste ingredients in a bowl and work together into a dough using your hand. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 175°C
- Pre weigh your cake ingredients, mixing all the fruit and nut elements together so they are evenly distributed in a bowl.
- Cream butter with sugar, beating until light and fluffy.
- Beat in eggs one at a time along with a spoonful of flour to prevent curdling.
- Set aside beaters and sieve in remaining flour.
- Gently fold in all remaining ingredients along with the flour using a spatula.
- Put half of the cake mixture into the prepared tin and roll out just under half the almond paste into a circle on a surface with a light dusting of icing sugar of such a size to fit the tin.
- Place on top of the cake mix and cover with the remainder of the mix, making a gentle hollow in the centre. This should account for any rise in the cake giving you a flat top.
- Put into the preheated oven for 45mins. When the cake starts to have a golden top place a thick layer of parchment over it to prevent burning for the remainder of cooking time.
- After 45mins reduce heat to 160°C and bake for another hour.
- Test the cake with a skewer. It should come out clean however be aware you may get an inaccurate reading if you misread the marzipan centre. Give it a further 15mins if necessary then test again. When it is ready set aside to settle for 15mins before turning it onto a cooling tray.
- Set aside some marzipan for the ‘apostles’ and roll the remainder on a surface with a light dusting of icing sugar. It should be a circle of a size to neatly fit on top of the cake.
- When the cake is cold, brush the top with a thin layer of apricot jam and lay on marzipan.
- Use a knife to score the marzipan decoratively if wished and brush with beaten egg.
- Divide remaining marzipan into 11 and roll each into a ball. Apply evenly around the edge. Brush them with beaten egg too.
- Toast in a vey hot oven for 15mins – keeping an eye on it – until marzipan is toasted golden.
Recipe Notes
A traditional bake for Easter
J Gow Orkney Spiced Rum works beautifully for this recipe