So then, where were we? Ah, the fruit was soaking...

The fruit actually soaked for 2 days rather than 1 as I hadn't got time to get everything ready for baking in the evening. I know not particularly good planning, but nevermind the fruit has had a good soak in Stone's Ginger Wine and freshly squeezed orange juice. It smelt great!

Today I decided to pull everything together and get the cake in the oven as it does need rather a long time in there, and a Saturday morning seemed the perfect opportunity.

Ok, so still following Granny's recipe, here's what we did next...

What You'll Need

5 Fresh Medium Eggs - Picked up this morning from the local farm

250g Butter - Get out the fridge a little while in advance, this will soften the butter and creaming will be so much easier

300g Plain Flour

200g Soft Dark Muscovado Sugar

Soaked fruit - have a good smell, it smells great

Baking Parchment

8" Cake Tin - I'm using an 8" round springform tin

Couple of pieces of paper 

String

What You'll Need to Do

Preheat your oven to about 150 degrees C

Line your cake tin with baking parchment, ensuring that the sides are double lined and are higher than the sides of your cake tin

Cube the butter, this makes it slighly easier to cream, and add to a large mixing bowl

Add the sugar and cream with either a hand whisk, or a wooden spoon. I prefer using a spoon, as the butter clumps round the whisk and my mixture covers the kitchen

Add the eggs, one at a time, to the mixture. Beat each egg in really well, and if the mixture starts to curdle add a spoon of the flour to help the egg bind in

Stir in the soaked fruit, making sure it is all mixed in

Sieve the flour and gently fold into the fruit cake mixture...

Taking your lined cake tin, spoon in the mixture, spreading it out, getting rid of any trapped air and levelling the top of the cake

Almost there...

Now the cake is going to be in the oven a while, so to stop it drying out wrap a double thickness of baking parchment around the outside of your cake tin and secure with the string

And just to be sure, stand the cake tin in a baking tray that the bottom is lined with a couple of sheets of paper or newspaper

Now we're ready, so pop the cake in the oven for between 3 and 4 hours, until it is baked through. Keep a second round piece of baking parchment, to cover the top of your cake if you think it is getting too dark whilst in the oven, this will help it from burning and drying out on top too much

When you think your cake is ready, insert a clean skwer into the centre of the cake and if it comes out clean your cake is cooked

I'll let you know how it goes and when it comes out of the oven later...