Grandma'S Boiled Fruitcake - cooking recipe

Ingredients

500 g sultanas
250 g raisins
250 g currants
250 g chopped dates
250 g chopped walnuts
250 whole glace cherries (I always add more as this is my favourite part of the cake)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
250 g butter
1 cup water
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
4 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups self raising flour
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon mixed spice
blanched almond, to top (optional)

Preparation

Day one.
Mix the first 11 ingredients into a large heavy based pot, place over a medium heat. Stir and bring to the boil (don't leave it alone in case it burns at the base).
Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes, you can leave it alone for this part.
Turn the heat off and add the orange juice, stir until well combined and leave overnight to soak. Place a lid over the top to stop moisture evaporating through the night.
Day 2.
In the cold pot with the pre-soaked fruit mixture add the remaining ingredients and stir well, be warned - you will need some serious elbow grease as the mixture will be very thick!
In either 2 large and deep loaf tins or a deep 20x20cm grease and line the sides and base 4 times with brown paper (I use brown paper bags that I have sliced open). Have the paper create a rim that goes up and above the tin. For a square tin you will need around 8 paper bags.
Place the cake mix into the prepared tin/s. Bang the cake tin on the floor about 10 times to get all the air bubbles out.
Using a wet hand, smooth the cake to make it flat. At this stage you can choose to decorate the top with blanched almonds or not.
Place into a cold oven, turn the oven up to 250 degrees F/150 degrees C for 3 1/2 - 4 hours for 1 large cake or 2 1/2 - 3 hours for 2 loaves. Rotate the cakes at least once during cooking - even it you have a fan forced oven. Cake is cooked when a skewer comes out clean.
Cool in the tin, cake is best eaten the day after baking.
Store in an airtight container for upto 5-7 days depending on your humidity.