Black cake

---------- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05
  
       Title: Black Cake
  Categories: Cakes, Fruits
       Yield: 24 Servings
  
       1 lb Raisins; minced
       1 lb Prunes, pitted; minced
       1 lb Currants, dried; minced
       1 lb Cherries, glaced; minced
       6 oz Lemon peel, glaced; minced
       6 oz Orange peel, glaced; minced
     3/4 l  Passover wine
            -(Manischewitz is good)
     3/4 l  Rum, dark
       2 lb Sugar, dark brown
   4 1/4 c  Flour, cake
       4 ts Baking powder
     1/2 ts Nutmeg, grated
     1/2 ts Cinnamon
       2 c  Butter, sweet; softened
      10 lg Egg
       1 tb Vanilla
   1 1/2 c  Almond paste; if desired
 
 -----------------------------------ICING-----------------------------------
       2 lb Sugar, confectioners; sifted
       6 lg Egg white; room temp
       2 tb Lemon juice
            Drages; for decoration
  
   In a large bowl, mix all the fruits thoroughly with the wine and the rum;
   let the fruit macerate, covered, at room temperature for at least two
   weeks. In a heavy skillet combine one pound of the brown sugar and 1 cup
   water. Bring to a boil over moderate heat, stirring until the sugar is
   dissolved, and gently boil the syrup, swirling the skillet occasionally,
   for a few minutes, or until it is reduced to 1 3/4 cups. Let the syrup
   cool; reserve. Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg together
   into a bowl. In the large bowl of an electric mixer cream together the
   remaining brown sugar and the butter until it is fluffy; then beat in the
   eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla,
   the flour mixture, and 1 1/3 cups of the burnt sugar syrup, reserving the
   remaining syrup for another use. In another large bowl, combine well the
   flour mixture and the fruit mixture and divide the batter between two
   buttered and floured 10" springform pans. Bake the cakes in the middle of a
   preheated 350 F. oven for two hours, or until a toothpick inserted in the
   centers comes out with some crumbs adhering to it.  (The centers of these
   cakes will be quite moist.)  Let the cakes cool in the pans on a rack,
   remove the sides and bottoms of the pans, and wrap the cakes in foil or wax
   paper.  Let the cakes stand at room temperature for a week. Roll out half
   the almond paste between sheets of plastic wrap to form a 10" round and
   remove the top sheet of plastic wrap.  Fit the almond paste layer over one
   cake, trimming the edge if necessary, and remove the other sheet of plastic
   wrap.  Roll out and fit the remaining almond paste onto the remaining cake
   in the same manner. ICING: Using an electric mixer, beat 4 cups of the
   confectioners' sugar with the egg whites and lemon juice until the mixture
   will hold a soft peak. Beat in the remaining sugar, and beat the icing
   until it will hold a stiff peak. Transfer two cups of the icing to a pastry
   bag fitted with a decorative tip, spread the remaining icing on the tops
   and sides of the cakes with a long metal spatula, and pipe the icing in the
   pastry bag decoratively onto the cakes. Arrange the drages on the cakes.
   Makes two cakes.
  
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