Holiday Sweet Bread

Name: Holiday Sweet Bread
Ingredients: 2 cups milk; 3 7-gram packages active dry yeast; 12 cups flour; 2 tsp. finely grated orange zest; 1 tsp. ground cinnamon; ½ tsp. ground mace; ½ tsp. ground cloves; ½ tsp. ground cardamom; 6 cups sugar; 8 tbsp. butter, melted; 8 tbsp. lard, melted; 5 eggs, lightly beaten; 1 cup raisins; ¾ cup dried currants; 12 pitted prunes, quartered; ¼ cup grated candied citron; ¼ cup finely ground almonds; ½ cup kirsch or other eau-de-vie; 2 maraschino cherries, stemmed; 12 whole almonds