Categories: Cakes 
      Yield: 6 servings 
  
  1 1/2 c  Golden, seedless, and puffed 
           -seeded raisins, combined 
      4 c  White flour 
      1 ts Baking soda 
  1 1/2 c  Dried currants 
      1 ts Salt 
      1 c  Plus 2 tb Blackberry Cordial 
           -or other wine 
      1 ts Cinnamon 
      1 ts Cloves 
      1 ts Allspice 
      1 c  Alaskan Sourdough Starter 
    1/2 ts Mace 
      6 tb Butter 
      3 c  Candied fruit; green and red 
           -cherries, pineapple, 
           -orange, citron and ging 
      1 c  White sugar 
      1 c  Brown sugar 
      3    Eggs, well beaten 
      1 c  Chopped nuts 
      2 tb Grated lemon rind 
  
  Soak raisins and currants in 1 cup wine overnight.  Remove starter 
  from refrigerator and set, tightly covered, in warm place overnight. 
  It should be in at least a two cup container as it will just about 
  double its volume overnight.  In the morning, cream butter with sugar 
  and beat in eggs and lemon rind.  Drain wine from raisins into 
  creamed mixture. Stir in starter and 3 cups of the flour sifted with 
  the soda, salt and spices. Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of flour over 
  the fruit and nuts in a large bowl. Toss and shake until well-coated. 
  Add to batter and mix thoroughly. Turn into loaf pans which have been 
  generously buttered. Let stand in warm place for 30 minutes.  Bake in 
  oven preheated to 300 with a pan of water on floor of oven and rack 
  as near as possible in middle of oven. Bake about 2-1/2 hours for 
  medium-sized loaves watching carefully to see that they do not brown 
  to quickly. Test with toothpick. Remove from oven, turn pans on sides 
  and allow to set for a few minutes before taking from pans. When cold 
  drip 2 tbsp. of wine over each cake. As soon as it is absorbed, wrap 
  tightly in cellophane freezer paper and store in refrigerator or 
  freezer.  They improve with age. 
   
  From: Breads and Coffee Cakes with Homemade Starters Shared By: Pat 
  Stockett