This is my family fruit cake recipe.

The fruit is boiled in the beer and give the finished cake a great, matured flavour.

1kg of mixed dried fruit
2 oranges. Zest and juice
400ml of beer
250g butter
200g brown sugar

Simmer these ingredients until the liquid has reduced by half. Set aside and cool

175g plain white flour
100g SR whole meal flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp mixed spice
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 tsp salt

Add all the dry ingredients and eggs to the cooled fruit mixture. Combine and pour into a greased lined baking tin. I use an 8” by 12” rectangular tin but a similar sized round tin will do or muffin cases if you want to make individual cakes. You will need to reduce the baking time.

Place in a preheated oven 150C for approximately 2 hours for 1 large cake.
Cool and ice as a Christmas Cake or eat it un-iced as a rich fruit cake.