Plum Cake

This is an example of the type of fruitcake that the British excel in baking. It is chock-full of dried and candied fruit and further enriched with a layer of almond paste in the center, which, despite the added richness it provides, actually makes the cake lighter and perfumes it with delicate almond flavor. Most British bakers use a pan that is fairly narrow in diameter and very tall for this type of cake, resulting in a very long baking time and the risk that some of the fruit will becom