Farmhouse Sultana Cake, from a recipe on a couple of different sites, seems to be fairly simple to make. It certainly gives off a lovely aroma as it cooks, the mixed spices filling the room and really whetting the apetite. I took the recipe from Cook It Simply .
It is a nice, easy to follow recipe, though I didn’t use the suggested 8 inch square cake tin, as mine has a fixed base. Instead a used an 8 inch round tin. This makes the cake smaller in surface area, but deeper. The top of the cake cracked during cooking, but that is not a particular problem, as long as the inside is cooked through, and it doesn’t collapse during cooling.
The other site that I found exactly the same recipe on didn’t mention what type of cake tin to use.
I didn’t sprinkle sugar over the top of mine, which may have been a bit of a mistake, as I think that is what really makes it a Farmhouse cake, but I thought there was enough sugar in the batter to make it sweet enough.
Farmhouse Sultana Cake – sliced
Ingredients
- 2 cups (225 g) 8 oz flour (All purpose)
- 2 level tsp (10 ml) Mixed Spice (All Spice / Pumpkin pie spice)
- 1 level tsp (5 ml) Bicarbonate of soda (Baking soda)
- 1 1/2 cups (225 g) 8 oz plain wholemeal flour (whole grain)
- 3/4 cup 170 g (6 oz) butter
- 1 cup (225 g) 1/2 lb soft brown sugar
- 8 oz (225 g) sultanas (golden raisins)
- 1 egg. beaten
- about 300 ml (1/2 pint) milk
- 10 sugar cubes or 10 tsp granulated sugar
1. Butter and base-line a 20.5 cm (8 inch) square cake tin.
2. Sift the plain flour.with the spice and soda into a large mixing bowl; stir in the wholemeal flour.
3. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs and stir in the sugar and sultanas.
4. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the egg and milk. Beat gently until well mixed and of a soft droppjng consistency adding more milk if necessary. Turn into the prepared tin.
5. Roughly crush the sugar cubes with the end of a rolling pin and scatter over the cake.
6. Bake in the oven at 170°C (325°f) mark 3 for about 1 hour 40 minutes until cooked. (When tested with a fine skewer, no traces of moist cake should remain.) Turn out and cool on a wire rack.