I cannot think of a time when I have had home made Fruit Cake. I feel that I am missing out on a classic food. It seems like the general idea is pound cake with fruit, nuts and a bit of brandy for preserving.
I will have to make this a weekend project at some point. I am thinking dates, figs and nuts would be good.
Start with at least checking out a few recipes if only to get the lay of the land. Fruitcake is a far, far too dangerous thing - as we know all too well - to go about reinventing the wheel on guesswork. Think not only of yourself, but of your loved ones. Please. I beg you.
But I like your choice of fruits. Good man. Someone has to break the ugly cycle of those gawdawful red and green candied “cherries”, and may it be once and for all.
Personally, I would rehydrate the fruits in the brandy, no question. 
Dates and Figs are 1950’s Joy of Cooking idea, (I eliminated the raisins). I have seen “traditional” Norwegian recipes that were more nut based.
How about brandily reconstituted dried apples, pears, or apricots? Or, for that matter, REAL dried cherries. Dried cranberries might make for a nice bit of zing.
The grocery store has some really good dried mango that would be great, but that would have to go into a different loaf, I don’t know if the flavor and texture would be complimentary with dates and figs. I could see a diced mango, apple, pear, apricot, and macadamia loaf coming out well. Raisin, cranberry, (real) cherry, pecan, and walnut seems like it could work too.
Hazelnuts. Oh, yes.
Hazelnuts were in the Joy of cooking recipe.
Are you chaps for real? 
Also add candied pineapple, citron, orange(for the cranberries), lemon, currants, golden syrup, dark-brown sugar, age the cakes in brandy. I am sure the reason why Wisconsin has the highest per capita consumption of brandy 
in the USA is because it is used to age fruitcake. I wouldn’t rehydrate anything before you cook it other wise you just get yucky compote. Walnuts, but you could use hazelnut flour.
I hate nuts in fruitcake. The texture is not right at all, and you do not need brandy sorry to disappoint you
I beg your pardon?
Ingredients:
Sultanas 8oz./225g
Raisins 4oz./100mg.
Currants 4oz./100g.
Demerara sugar 6oz./170g.
Hot tea 5fl.oz./150ml.
Eggs 1.
Self raising flour 8oz./225g.
Method:
The idea behind the brandy is not just for its special effects which would be marginal at best, but for its efficacy as a preservative, and flavor.
A good fruit cake never lasts that long!!
or needs that flavour
It would perhaps be best to say that a good British fruitcake doesn’t need it. Different culinary tradition and approach, here. Sometimes the Yank version is stored for a time to mellow before it’s served.
If you want compote just make compote, don’t add flour to it and bake it! I have never in all my years ever heard of pre-hydrating dried fruit for fruit cake especially if it is glacéed fruit. The liguid in the batter should be sufficent for that purpose.
Demera sugar isn’t strong enough that’s why ya need golden syrup and brown sugar. But I do think I’m going to stop now and go have a cup or two of tea, that was a good idea! 
Thanks. Not being a baker, I was hazarding a guess.
and so on September 18, 2009 began the great C&F Fruit Cake controversy
Again.
Hmm. That reminds me: we haven’t had a mongo cheese thread in a while, have we.
My mother’s fruitcake was so widely admired by our neighbors we rarely had to throw more than one at the Protestant kids in our neighborhood to get through to school. Good for close quarter work too.