"Wow!

I made 9 of them as gifts this holiday (I kept one) and I'm guessing the 8 recipients are going to be quite happy.

A couple of minor tweaks I'd recommend:

1) Buy Traverse Bay dried blueberries, cherries & cranberries through Amazon . com
2) Lose the orange and lemon zest and go with 1/4 cup each of Italian Glacé orange and lemon peel strips, reducing the volume of raisins and currants to 3/4 cup each so the volume of the batter remains the same. It's a wonderfully sweet candied peel. I got mine from barryfarm . com
3) When grinding the whole cloves and allspice berries, throw them into a spice grinder with the pre-ground ginger and cinnamon. The extra mass helps turn everything into a fine powder.
4) Melt the sugar, butter, apple cider and spice mixture first BEFORE adding the macerated fruit. Everything blends easier.
5) Use a high quality rum (or brandy) when brushing the finished fruitcakes. Bacardi Gold is fine for macerating the fruit.

Thanks, Alton!