Apricot & Pineapple Cake

An alternative light Christmas cake that can be made with or without marzipan. Serves about 12.

Ingredients

250g plain flour

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

250g unsalted butter

2254g caster sugar

4 eggs, beaten

100g ground almonds

4 tbsp Cointreau

175g stem ginger

fineley grated rind of 2 lemons

175g blanched almonds, chopped

175g Tropical Wholefoods sun dried pineapple, chopped

100g Tropical Wholefoods sun dried apricots, chopped

For Christmas: 800g marzipan & 100g apricot jam, sieved.

Method

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Heat the oven to 160°, gas mark 3. Sieve together flour and cinnamon. Cream the butter & sugar together & gradually beat in the eggs until the mixture is fluffy but stiff. Stir in all the ingredients.
Turn into a greased 20cm square baking tin, double lined with greaseproof paper. Wrap the tin in thick brown paper & tie with string. Bake for 130-135 min. Test with a skewer after 100min. Cool in the tin. Wrap & store for 4 weeks (if you can!)

For Christmas: Brush cake with sieved jam, roll out marzipan on icing-sugar dusted surface to fit top & sides of cake. Press on rolled marzipan. Place the cake under a hot grill for just a few seconds to brown marzipan slightly.