This recipe has been a favourite of the webmaster's family for years. Even those poor infidels who swear that they don't fancy fruitcake at all change their minds after a slice. The recipe makes roughly 2 fruitcake loaves but can be easily doubled. All measures are U.S. (The webmaster's revenge for years of converting UK recipes!) You'll need:

• 1/4 lb. glace cherries, halved
• 1 lb. golden raisins
• 1/4 lb. candied lemon peel, diced
• 1/4 lb. candied orange peel, diced
• 1/4 lb. candied citron
• 1/4 lb. dried currants
• 16 oz. (or more) of Cluny
• 1/2 lb. all-purpose flour
• 3/4 lb. shelled pecans, halved
• 1/4 lb. shelled almonds, halved
• 1/2 lb. softened butter (unsalted)
• 1/2 lb. granulated sugar
• 5 large eggs, separated
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• Golden sherry for the curing process.

Soak the fruit in the whisky overnight. (36 hours is the longest you should go and is well past the point of diminishing returns) Have a wee dram of Dalwhinnie for yourself. Drain the fruit and save the whisky. Toss the fruit w/ at least 2 tablespoons of the flour and the nuts. Set this all aside.

Have another wee dram of Dalwhinnie while you preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cream the butter and sugar together. Beat the egg yolks lightly and add them to the butter-sugar mixture. Stir until throughly blended.

Sift the remaining flower and baking powder together. Gradually add this to the egg yolk mixture blending throughly as you go. Beat the egg whites until they are stiff (or reasonably so) and fold them into the mixture. Add the fruit-nut mixture.

Pour the entire mixture into greased loaf pans (depending on the size and quantity of cake you wish to make) and bake for at least 40 min. When a tooth pick inserted into the centre of the cakes comes out clean they're done.
(Cautionary Note: The webmaster's experience with this recipe leads him to advise one and all that 40 min. is usually not enough to throughly bake the loaves. Set your timer for 40 min and expect to bake them for at least 20 min. longer. keep a very close eye on things after 40 min. as there is nothing worse than burnt fruitcake!)

Cool the cakes in the pans and pour the whisky that was drained from the fruit over the loaves. (Depending on how much whisky you used to soak the fruit, you may have too much. You want enough to lightly bathe the tops of the cakes; not drown them.)

When cool wrap the cakes in cheese cloth or some similar fabric that has been soaked in golden sherry. Place the wrapped loaves in an airtight container. After 1 week, remove the wrapping cloths, soak in golden sherry and re-wrap the loaves. Do this one or two more times until time to serve.

Make sure you have a designated driver before eating this fruitcake. It is one that is guaranteed to disappear fast. It tastes even better after it's been frozen.