1.Combine dried fruits in a large bowl and stir to combine. Pour brandy over top and stir a few times to distribute evenly. Cover and leave fruit to soak for several hours or overnight.

1.Quarter and peel fruit—it's easiest to separate the flesh from the peel with your fingers.
2.Slice peel into 1/4-inch strips, transfer to a small saucepan and cover with water. Cover, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Discard water, leaving peel in the saucepan.
3.Add sugar and water to the pan and mix thoroughly. Cover, bring to the boil over medium heat, reduce heat and simmer for 40 to 50 minutes until peel is translucent.
4.Remove peel from syrup using a slotted spoon and drain on a rack set over a baking sheet. You may have to separate pieces that have stuck together.
5.Store in the fridge in a covered container for up to one month.

1.Combine cranberries and birch syrup in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat until berries pop and the mixture is the consistency of jam, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and cool. (You can do this step the night before and refrigerate the cranberries overnight.)

1.Once you’ve organized your pans, grease each one with butter and then line the interior with buttered parchment paper. Preheat oven to 300F and place a pan of water on the bottom shelf.
2.In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients, except pecans.
3.In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. The mixture will curdle, but don’t worry, once the dry ingredients are in it will come back together again.
4.Add dry ingredients and mix in thoroughly with a wooden spoon.
5.Stir in fruit and brandy mixture, cranberry mixture, and pecans. Mix thoroughly, reaching right down into the bottom of the bowl.
6.Spoon the batter into prepared pans and smooth the tops with a spoon dipped in water.
7.Bake the smaller cakes for 1 hour and the larger ones for about 2 hours, until a tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.
8.Cool cakes in their pans on a rack for 30 minutes, then carefully turn out of the pans and cool completely.
9.Once cakes are cool, wrap them in brandy-soaked cheesecloth and then in reuseable plastic bags. After a week, unwrap cakes, poke holes in the top with a skewer and drizzle tops with brandy, about one tablespoon for the larger cakes and half a tablespoon for the smaller. Repeat every week until one week before you’re going to serve or give away the cakes.
10.If you’d like, cover with a layer of homemade marzipan before serving.