Lemon pecan cake

1) Soak the pecans in the lemon extract. Seal tightly and set aside for twenty-four hours. Shake occasionally to distribute the essence.

2) Place the sultanas, cherries and nuts in a bowl and toss with a little flour to lightly coat everything with flour. In a separate bowl, cream the sugar and butter and add the eggs one at a time. Sift the flour with the baking powder and salt. Incorporate the flour mixture into the butter mixture and then fruits and nuts.

3) Preheat the oven to 140C/Gas 1 and coat a large cake tin with flour. Pour the batter into the tin and bake the cake for 2 hours, or use two 25cm by 5cm tins and adjust the cooking time as necessary.

4) At 45 minutes it would be wise to start checking the cake to make sure the top is not burning. When a cocktail stick inserted in the centre come out clean, remove the cake from the oven and turn out to cool on a wire rack.