Ingredients

Step by step

1. The night before baking, put 75ml rum in a bowl with all the dried fruits, diced ginger and its syrup, citrus zest and juice, and the spices. Stir together well, cover and leave overnight to plump up and absorb all the flavours.
   Tip

   If you want to avoid alcohol in your cake you can replace the rum with pineapple juice for soaking the fruit mixture (but don’t feed the cake with pineapple juice!)
2. Next day, grease and line the base and sides of a deep 20cm springform tin with a double layer of baking paper. Preheat the oven to 150°C, fan 130°C, gas 2.

3. Cream the butter and sugar together in a stand mixer, or in a large bowl with an electric whisk, beating for at least 2-3 minutes until really pale, then add the treacle. Sift the flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt into a separate bowl. Add 1 egg at a time to the mixer, plus a spoonful of the flour mixture, making sure each egg is mixed in well before you add the next.

4. Fold in the rest of the flour using a large metal spoon. Tip in the soaked fruits and any liquid remaining in the bowl, and fold through until evenly combined. Scrape into the prepared tin, level the surface and cover the cake tin with a double layer of baking paper, with a small hole cut into the centre. Bake for 2 ½-3 hours, or until the cake is firm, golden brown and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

5. Cool the cake in the tin, then unmould and remove the lining papers once completely cold. Wrap in fresh paper and foil before storing in an airtight container. The cake is lovely and moist, but if you wish you can feed the cake with a tablespoon of rum every week or so. Don’t overdo the feeding process though, or the cake will disintegrate into a mess of boozy crumbs! Finish feeding the cake at least a week before you plan to ice it, so that the surface of the cake isn’t damp.

   Tip

   Make it gluten-free: substitute gluten-free plain flour, adding 1 teaspoon xanthan gum at the same time.