PREP THE DAY BEFORE MAKING CAKE:

Soak the dried fruit in the brandy overnight. Note: I suggest chopping larger fruit like apricots, figs, dates before soaking them. You can leave raisins and berries whole.

MAKE THE CAKE:

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Cream the butter and sugar. Add the yolks of the eggs, then the flour and beaten egg whites. Add the fruit (including soaking liquid) and the jam.

Prepare 2 large cake pans by putting a buttered parchment paper at the bottom of the pans. Pour the batter into the pans. Add another parchment paper on top of the batter. Keep top covered with the parchment for the first two hours of baking, then remove. Bake an additional hour or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Remove cake from oven and let cool.

If desired, sprinkle cake with a little more brandy/liquor.

NOTE: Baking times may vary depending upon the amount of batter you have and the size of your pan. The amount of batter this recipe makes depends largely in part on the type of fruit used. It calls for 7 lbs of fruit, but the volume associated with that weight varies depending on the type of fruit used.

NOTE: Instead of a cake pan, I bake the fruitcake in 2 large cookie tins that are approximately 10 or 11 inches in diameter and about 3 or 4 inches deep. When they are done baking, I just pop the top of the tin on to store the cake. It also makes a nice way to present cakes to others.