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1
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
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2
Rinse the candied cherries and combine in a very large bowl with all the dried fruits and walnuts. (I use a plastic dish pan.)
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3
Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter until light. Add the sugar and mix well.
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4
Beat in 3 of the eggs to mixture, then 2 cups of flour. Mix well. Beat in 3 more eggs and final 2 cups of flour. Mix well.
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5
Add the lemon extract, zest, lemon juice and vanilla to cake batter and combine.
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6
Pour cake batter over fruits and nuts. Use a sturdy hand spatula to thoroughly combine ingredients. Batter will be very stiff!
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7
Butter loaf pans and line with parchment paper. Lay one piece lengthwise, another crosswise. Trim to fit pans. Butter fitted parchment paper.
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8
Pour batter into pans, leaving one half inch of space at the top of each pan.
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9
Cover pans with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove foil and then bake, uncovered, for 60 additional minutes.
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10
Cool in pans on racks. Unmold, remove paper, wrap in plastic wrap and chill until serving. Cake keeps for at least two weeks in fridge. Ours never lasts that long...NOTE: This year's batter was so full of ingredients that I was able to bake a third loaf in a smaller-sized pan. I cut its baking time to 45 minutes once I had removed the foil from the cakes.
