1
["In a large bowl, combine well the raisons, the prunes, the currents, the cherries, the peels, the wine and the rum and let the fruit macerate, covered at room temperature for at least two weeks.", "In A heavy skillet combine 1 lb of the brown sugar and one c. of water, bring the mix to a boil over medium heat, stirring and washing down any sugar crystals clinging to the side with a brush dipped in cool water, till the sugar is dissolved.", "Boil the syrup, swirling the skillet occasionally for 3 to 4 min or possibly till it is reduced to 1 and 3/4 c. Let the burnt sugar syrup cold and reserve it.", "Into a bowl, sift together the flour, the baking pwdr, the nutmeg, and the cinnamon.", "In the large bowl of an electric mixer cream together the remaining lb.", "of brown sugar and the butter till the mix is light and fluffy and beat in the Large eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.", "Beat in the vanilla, the flour mix, and 1 1/3 c. of the of the reserved burnt sugar syrup, reserving the remaining syrup for another use.", "In another large bowl combine the flour mix and the fruit mix and divide the batter between two buttered and floured 10 inch springform pans.", "Bake the cakes in the middle of a pre - heated 350 F. oven 1 hour and 5= 0 min or possibly till the cakes are set and a tester inserted into the centers comes out with some crumbs adhering to it.", "(The centers of the cakes will be quite moist.)", "Let the cakes cold in the pans on a rack, remove the sides and the bottoms of the pans and wrap the cakes in foil or possibly wax paper.", "Let the cakes stand at room temperature for 1 week.", "Roll out half the almond paste between two sheets of platic wrap to create a 10 inch round and remove the top sheet of plastic wrap.", "Fit the almond paste over one of the cake layers, trimming the edge if necessary, remove the other sheet of platic wrap and fit the remaining almond paste onto the remaining cake in the same manner.", "Make the icing: In a bowl, with an electric mixer beat 4 c. of the confectioners sugar, the egg whites, and the lemon juice for 4 to 6 min or possibly till the mix holds soft peaks.", "Beat in the remaining 3 c. confectonsers sugar and beat till the icing holds stiff peaks.", "Transfer 2 c. of the icing to a pastry bag fitted with a decorative tip, spread the remaing icing on the tops and the sides of the cakes with a long metal spatula, and pipe the icing in the icing bag decoratively onto the cakes.", "Arrange the dragees on the cakes.", "Makes 2 cakes.", "Laurie Colwin for", "NOTES : ""There is fruitcake and there is black cake, that is to fruitcake what Brahms's piano quartets are to Muzak.", "It's closest relatives are plum pudding and black bun, but they are mere third cousins twice removed.", "Black cake, like truffles and vintage Burgundy, is deep, complicated, and intense.", "It is light and dense at the same time and demands to be eaten in a slow, meditative way"" So said Laurie Colwin in an article in the November snipped it out to ""save"".", "Save it I did....lost for 9 years, it just reappered during an especially vigorous file cleaning session.", "It sounds marvelous."]
