Holiday Sweet Bread | Saveur

Ingredients

• 2 cups milk
• 3 (7-gram) packages active dry yeast
• 12 cups flour
• 2 tsp. finely grated orange zest
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1⁄2 tsp. ground mace
• 1⁄2 tsp. ground cloves
• 1⁄2 tsp. ground cardamom
• 6 cups sugar
• 8 tbsp. butter, melted
• 8 tbsp. lard, melted
• 5 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup raisins
• 3⁄4 cup dried currants
• 12 pitted prunes, quartered
• 1⁄4 cup grated candied citron
• 1⁄4 cup finely ground almonds
• 1⁄2 cup kirsch or other eau-de-vie
• 2 maraschino cherries, stemmed
• 12 whole almonds