CHRISMAS CAKE

Ensure this cake is made 3 weeks before Christmas, and then ice one week before the occasion. Ingredients 12 oz plain flour 1 tsp. cinnamon 1 tsp. mixed spice ½ tsp. salt 4 oz candied peel 4 oz cherries 2 lb. Dried fruit ( sutana,plams,rasins ) 4 oz blanched almonds 4 eggs 4 tbsp. sherry Finely grated 1 lemon 8 oz margarine 8 oz sugar 1 tbsp. black treacle  Sieve together all the dry ingredients.  Mix the peel, fruit, cherries, chopped almonds and lemon rind.  Whisk the eggs and sherry together.  Cream the margarine, sugar and black treacle until soft.  Add the flour and egg mixtures alternately to the margarine.  Stir in the fruit mixture.  Put into an 8-9 inch tin, lined with greaseproof paper round the sides and at the bottom. Tie a double band of brown paper round the outside of the rim, standing well up above the top of it.  Put in the middle of a hot oven. Bake for 31/4-31/2 hours atgas mark 3 for the first 11/2 hours, and then decrease to gas mark 2 for the remainder.  Cool the cake in the tin, then store in an airtight container.