Diane's Fruit Cake

This cake has been a bit of a nightmare in the making but it all turned out ok in the end.
I am not a huge fan of fruit cake. When I was asked to make a fruit cake for my husband's parents 50th wedding anniversary celebrations (which took place months ago now), I agreed but was a bit concerned.
I went to a lovely friend (Diane) who is a fabulous baker and cook for a recipe. 
My husbands advice (from he who rarely cooks and never bakes) was to do a trial. I made a single recipe which turned out dry and small in the tin I had. A very expensive trial given how much fruit is in this cake. The trial cake is now receiving regular doses of brandy and is refrigerated for later use.
I doubled the recipe and baked the cake for significantly less time than the recipe says, judging if it was ready by inserting a fork in after 3 hours and from then on half hourly.

The cake was a success and I received lots of positive comments. From my perspective it was moist and seemed ok.

I can't take credit for the icing - this job was passed on to an aunty of John's.

I'm not sure when I will be making a fruit cake again, but this would be the recipe I'll use when I do.

INGREDIENTS

500g (3 & 1/4 cups) sultanas
500g (3 & 1/4 cups) currants
250g (1 & 1/2 cups) chopped raisins
125g (2/3 up) glace cherries, halved
1/3 cup mixed peel
185g (1 & 1/2 cups) blanched almonds, halved
1/3 cup orange marmalade
1 tablespoon grated orange rind
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
1/4 cup lemon juice
2/3 cup brandy
500g butter
500g (2 cups) brown sugar, firmly packed
8 eggs
3 cups plain flour
1 cup self-raising flour
METHOD

Combine fruit, almonds, marmalade, rinds, juice and brandy in a large bowl; mix well. Cover bowl, stand mixture for up to a week.

Cream butter with sugar in large bowl with electric mixer only until ingredients are combined. Beat in eggs one at a time, beat only until combined between each addition. Add creamed mixture to fruit mixture, mix well; mix in sifted flours in 2 lots.

Spread mixture evenly into deep 25cm square or deep 28cm round prepared cake pan. Bake at 150°C for about 5 hours.