Preheat oven to 300 F / 150 C (or 280 F/ 138C convection). Line the bottom and the sides of a 7-inch round pan with parchment paper. You can also use a springform pan. I just use regular round pan
Prepare marzipan (if decide to make it yourself):
You will have some leftovers. Put all ingredients for marzipan in a large mixing bowl. Combine and mix into a mass. If it's very sticky, add a bit more almond flour. If it's too dry, add a bit of water, teaspoon by teaspoon until you get a moist but not sticky dough
Transfer to a work surface and knead a few times. Wrap it tightly with a cling wrap. It can be made ahead and kept in the fridge. Simply let it comes to a room temperature and knead a few time to soften it a bit
Prepare the cake batter:
Combine all the dry ingredients and whisk to combine and set aside
Cream the butter and sugar with a wooden spoon. You don't need a mixer to do this unless you want to. This is meant to be a dense, moist, and rich cake, so we don't need a whole lot of air here. Mix until they are pale and creamy. Add lemon zest
Add half of the eggs and mix until combined and then add the rest of the eggs and then mix until combined. Add milk and stir to combine. Sift in the dry ingredients and mix until you don't see any more pockets of flour. Fold in the dried fruit and cherries
Dust your work surface with some icing sugar, get about 300 grams of marzipan and roll it out into a 7 inches circle
Spoon half of the cake batter into the prepared cake pan. Smooth the top with rubber spatula. Make sure the cake is evenly spread so there won't be any "empty" spots. Gently lay one marzipan layer on top of the cake batter. Gently spoon the rest of the cake batter on top of the marzipan, smooth it out with a rubber spatula. Keep the rest of the marzipan, tightly wrapped in a cling wrap for later
Baking:
Bake in a preheated oven, middle rack for about 1 1/2 hours or until the cake has risen and dry to touch on top. It should spring back slightly when you touch. A toothpick inserted will come out with some sticky crumbs is normal as long as it's no longer wet
Cool down:
Let the cake cool down completely inside the pan, on top of a cooling rack. Don't unmold the cake until it has cooled down completely
If you use springform pan, simply spring the pan open, and remove the parchment paper on the side. If you use a regular round pan, put a cutting board on top of the cake and then invert to unmold the cake, remove the parchment paper on the side and put the cake on a baking sheet
Assembling the cake:
Dust your work surface with some icing sugar and roll out another 300 grams of marzipan into a 7-inch circle
Brush the top of the cake with some melted apricot jam. Carefully place the marzipan on top of the cake. I kinda make the edge of the circle a bit "wavy" (just because..). You don't have to
Make 11 apostle balls with the marzipan. I made the ball about 1-inch in diameter. You may have some leftover marzipan which you can keep in the fridge, tightly wrapped for about 1 month or in the freezer for about 3 months
Brush the top of the cake (which is covered by marzipan) with egg white. Attach the 11 marzipan balls on the perimeter of the cake. Brush the marzipan balls with some egg whites. If you have a hand blow-torch, you can blow-torch the apostle balls and the surface of the marzipan slightly to give it a bit of golden-ish burnt look
If you don't have a hand blow-torch, put the cake inside the oven and use the broiler function (or top heat) to let it caramelize the top until golden brown. Keep a close watch and don't walk away or you may end up burning the marzipan on top of the cake
Storage:
This cake can be kept in an air-tight container for up to a week. If it's really humid where you are, you want to keep it in the fridge