ok, now I know why the average person no longer bakes their own Christmas cake. The prices of the indgredients, candied cherries, candied peel, pecans, slivered almonds, raisins, currents are simply out of this world. After considering the cost of labour and materials a loaf size Christmas Cake would be worth about $60.00, or at least $7.00 a piece. Hopefully it tastes relevantly as good as it costs.