Makes 22cm cake
250g unsalted butter, diced
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup apple juice
350g raisins, chopped
300g dried figs, roughly chopped
300g sultanas
250g dates
1 apple, peeled, cored, grated
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
3 eggs, whisked
1 cup plain flour, sifted
150g ground almonds (almond meal)
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground allspice
pure icing sugar, to dust
vintage cheddar, to serve
1 Preheat oven to 170˚C. Grease and double line a 22cm round cake pan with baking paper. Place butter, sugar and apple juice into a large saucepan. Place over a medium heat and stir until butter and sugar have melted. Add dried fruit and apple. Stir until well combined and mixture comes to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add bicarb soda. Cool.
2 Stir through eggs, flour, almond meal, cinnamon and allspice. Spoon mixture into prepared pan. Tap pan on a flat surface to remove air bubbles. Bake for 2–2.5 hours or until cooked through when tested in the centre with a skewer. Cover loosely with foil, if cake begins to colour too much. Remove cake from oven, leave in pan, wrap in a clean tea towel and stand overnight.
3 Remove cake from pan. Place onto a serving plate. Dust with icing sugar. Cut into wedges and serve with a slice of cheddar.
