Preheat the oven to 180C/356F. In a small bowl, mix together the spices, vanilla bean paste, maple syrup, orange juice and dried fruits, and stir well. Set aside for 10-15 minutes to allow the fruit to soak up the juices and spices.
In a large bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients for the bread, stirring well to combine. Add the wet ingredients, including the fruit mixture, and all the spices from the small bowl. Pour the mixture into a silicon loaf tin (for this bread, it really does need to be silicon) and smooth the top down with your hand or a spoon. Pop in the oven for 40 minutes.
When the timer goes off, remove the bread from the oven, and from the silicon loaf pan. Place it back into the oven, sans the pan, straight onto the rack. I put it on a higher rack, with a tray on the rack below, to catch any bits that fall off in the process. Cook the loaf for an additional 40 minutes.
Once cooked, allow the loaf to cool completely on a rack before slicing. I like to use my sandwich press to toast it, not only because it caramelises the fruit, or because it doesn't leave nut crumbs in my toaster, but mostly because I no longer have a toaster.