Ginger & Orange Cakes

Ingredients:
* 600g currants , sultanas and raisins
* 100g glacé cherries
* 50g mixed peel (chop a couple of whole ones if you can)
* 50g glacé ginger or crystallised ginger , roughly chopped
* 100g glacé or diced pineapple , roughly chopped
* 60ml Cointreau or Grand Marnier
* 60ml ginger wine
* 2 tbsp Angostura bitters (the orange version is good)
* 225g light muscovado sugar
* 250g butter , softened
* 225g plain flour
* 1 tsp ground ginger
* ¼ of a whole nutmeg , grated
* 1 tsp cinnamon
* 1 tbsp vanilla extract
* 100g whole blanched almonds
* 4 eggs
* 1 orange , zested

Decoration:
* 2 tbsp apricot jam , mixed with 1 tbsp water and sieved
* 500g marzipan
* cornflour for rolling
* 4 tbsp vodka
* 500g ready-rolled fondant icing

Methods:
01. Soak the dried and glacé fruit in the alcohol and Angostura bitters for up to 2 days.

02. Heat the oven to 140C/fan 120C/gas 1. Line an 18cm square or 20cm round cake tin with 2 layers of baking parchment. Beat the sugar and butter together then sift in the flour and spices and mix briefly. Add the vanilla, almonds, eggs, orange zest and the fruit and alcohol mix and stir together. Spoon into the tin and make a dip in the centre with the back of a spoon so that when the cake rises in the middle you get a flat top. Bake for 3-31/2 hours then cool in the tin in the oven.

03. Peel off the paper and brush off any crumbs, then brush the top with the jam. Roll out the marzipan on a work surface dusted with cornflour until it is big enough to cover the cake. Lift it over the cake using a rolling pin and smooth down all the way around. Trim any excess. Brush with vodka, then roll out the icing and cover in the same way. Trim the icing around the edges and neaten. Roll out the icing off-cuts and cut out different sized stars, brush with a little vodka and stick to the cake. Finish with a ribbon.

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