Preheat your oven to 150C/130C Fan/Gas2. Grease a 20cm round cake tin and line the bottom and sides with baking paper.
Sieve the flour, salt, mixed spice and cinnamon into a bowl.
Cream the butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl (we love our Cornishware one). Once light and fluffy add in the sugar, black treacle and vanilla and give it all a good mix.
Lightly mix the eggs first on their own then add into the mixture a little at a time
Fold in the flour mixture and mix until well combined. Then mix in the dried fruit, peel, cherries and almonds.
Spoon the Christmas mixture into the cake tin.
Bake for approx. 3 hours, testing with a skewer. If the skewer comes out clean your cake is ready, if not bake for up to another hour testing every 20 minutes until the skewer comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and make a few holes in the cake with a skewer, pouring over 3-4 tbsp of brandy. Let the brandy soak into the cake and allow to cool in the tin.
Store the cake wrapped in cling film in an airtight container. For a rich and rather naughty cake, spoon over a few tablespoons of brandy every week until you are ready to decorate.