Instructions

Work the butter to a cream, dredge in the flour, add the sugar, currants, sultanas, candied peel cut into neat pieces and almonds, which should be blanched and chopped, and mix these well together; Whisk the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth and let them be thoroughly blended with the dry mixture; then add the well-beaten yolks. This makes the cake much lighter.  Beat cake well for 20 minutes and put into a well buttered tin. Bake from 2 to 3 hours and let the oven be well heated when the cake is first put in or the fruit will sink to the bottom; a glass of wine may be added to the mixture if liked. When the cake is cold, it may be iced with a plain icing, the whites of two eggs to a pound of icing sugar beaten until smooth.