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Method

1. Grease and line the base and sides of a 20cm/8in round cake tin with a double thickness of baking paper. Wrap the outside of the tin in a double thickness of baking parchment (making sure it is about 10cm/4cm higher than the top of the tin) and secure with kitchen string.

2. The day before you plan to bake, finely grate the zest from one orange and squeeze the juice of both, and place in a mixing bowl. Add the raisins, sultanas, currants, glace cherries and mixed peel. Add 4 tablespoons of the brandy, mix well, cover and leave at room temperature overnight for the fruit to plump and absorb the juice and brandy. (You can speed up this process by heating the mixture on a low setting in the microwave for 1–2 minutes and then leaving at room temperature for about 2 hours.)

3. Preheat the oven to 150C/130Fan/Gas 1.

4. Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and light (this will take about 3 minutes using a freestanding mixer or electric hand mixer). Add the beaten eggs a little at a time, mixing well between each addition. Add the date nectar and mix to combine. Sift the flour, xanthan gum, baking powder and spices into the bowl. Stir in the ground almonds and a pinch of salt.

5. Tip in the soaked fruit, add the chopped almonds and mix using a spatula until thoroughly combined. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and spread level.

6. Bake in the bottom third of the oven for 3½ hours, or until the cake is risen and a wooden skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. You may need to loosely cover the top of the cake with a sheet of baking paper or kitchen foil for the last 30 minutes to prevent the top from browning too much.

7. Sit the cake in its tin on a cooling rack and poke holes in the top using a skewer. Drizzle over the remaining 2 tablespoons of brandy and leave to cool completely.

8. Turn the cake out of the tin, cover with foil and leave in an airtight box or cake tin until ready to cover with marzipan and icing. The cake will keep for 2 weeks like this. You can continue to feed it with brandy each week, if you like.

9. To decorate the cake, melt 4–5 tablespoons apricot jam in a small pan over a gentle heat. Brush the warm jam all over the top and sides of the cake.

10. Lightly dust the work surface with icing sugar. Divide the marzipan into two portions – one piece twice as big as the other. Roll the smaller piece out into a 20cm/8in disc and lay it on top of the cake. Roll the remainder out into a neat strip, as tall as the height of the cake and as long as the circumference. Press onto the sides of the cake to coat neatly. Leave to dry for 1 hour.

11. Dust the work surface with icing sugar. Break off 100²µ/3½´Ç³ú of the fondant icing, roll out to a thickness of about 3mm/â…›in and stamp out small star shapes in assorted sizes. Brush or spray the edges of the stars with edible gold lustre and set aside while you finish icing the cake.

12. Roll the remaining fondant out into a large circle (about 40cm/16in diameter and 3mm/â…›in thick). Carefully roll the fondant disc up around the rolling pin. Lightly brush the marzipanned caked with water, unroll the icing over the cake and smooth with your hands to cover evenly. Trim any excess icing from the base and use water to stick the stars around the top edge.

13. Press edible gold, silver or pearl balls into the fondant around the stars. Leave the icing to dry for at least 2 hours before serving.