Christmas Cake

Method

1. Grease 23cm square by 7cm high baking tin with butter
2. Line outside of tin with 2or 3 sheets of newspaper. Hold in place with cooking string.
3. Preheat oven to 160C
4. In a large mixing bowl, cream the sugar and the butter
5. Add eggs one at a time (adding a spoonful of flour after each egg)
6. Add lemon juice
7. In another bowl, mix all fruit, nuts, flour, mixed spice and salt (all fruit must be coated in flour)
8. Slowly add fruit mix to sugar mix and mix well
9. Pour mixture into prepared baking tin
10. Bake at 160C for 4 hours turning cake every hour
11. Cool on a cooling rack
12. Drizzle about 2 tbsp brandy over the top, wrap in cling-wrap and place in a cake tin
13. Store in a cool place
14. Remove every 2 weeks to drizzle 2 tbsp of brandy over the top to maintain moisture
15. Cover with marzipan 2 or 3 days before Christmas
16. Ice the cake the day after applying marzipan