To begin making the Traditional Christmas Cake Recipe, we first have to soak all the dry fruits in rum and juice (you can avoid the rum). This process helps ferment the fruits and also helps to release all the flavors and make the christmas cake moist and rich.

Place the sultanas, dried prunes, dried dates, dried figs and dried apricots into a large mixing bowl. Pour over the rum and orange juice and sprinkle over the orange zest.

Mix until well combined, then cover the bowl with cling film and set aside overnight or a few weeks or a month or a year. They say the longer you ferment, the fruits get fermented, the richer the taste of the christmas cake.

To make the Christmas Cake Batter proceed to the remaining steps are once the fermentation of the fruits are over. Preheat the oven to 170 C.

Sift the flour, baking powder and the spices together and keep aside. I like to sift it twice over as the flour gets good air pockets and also makes the cake more fluffy.

Line the base and sides of a 9 inch springform cake pan with a double layer parchment paper, making sure the paper reaches the top of the tin. Or you can alternatively grease the pan with butter and dust it with flour.

In a large bowl or a KitchenAid Stand Mixer, whisk the Classic spread (or butter) and sugar together until fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs one at a time. Add in the flour slowly until well combined.

Slowly add in the soaked dried fruits, its liquids, the almond powder, chopped nuts and combine it into the flour mixture. Don't over beat, we just want all the ingredients to be well combined.

Spoon the above Christmas Cake mixture into the springform pan and level the surface with the back of a spoon. Bake the Christmas Cake for 45 minutes approximately or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

The cake typically tends to darken a lot during baking, if this happens cover the top with parchment paper in the middle of the baking process.

Once the christmas cake is baked remove it from the oven allow it to cool completely in the pan.

Store the Christmas Cake in an airtight container, wrapped in greaseproof paper and aluminium foil, for two to three months.

You can also bake the Traditional Christmas Cake in smaller pans and gift them to your family this holiday season.

Serve the Traditional Christmas Cake along with Qahwa | Arabic Coffee Recipe and Ginger Cardamom Chai (Spice Infused Indian Style Milk Tea) to compliment the cake for your evening.