Sticky Sultana Fruit Cake

A golden sticky cake, moist and filled with gooey sultanas. A good hearty cake with a slight crunch just to boot.

I wanted to do some cooking this week and for a dead quick and simple recipe I turned to this. This was originally a Delia Smith recipe, but with a few adaptations, here it is! It's really simple, really fast and disappears just as quickly! Made it for a church coffee session and it was gone in minutes. It matures to a more intense flavor as well as becoming stickier if left for a few days.

So, to the Ingredients;

• 225g Self Raising Flour
• 175g Demerara Sugar
• 250ml Cold Tea
• 225g Sultanas
• 1 Large Egg
• Pinch of Salt
• 1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp Ground Nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp Ground Mixed Spice

Put the sultanas in a bowl and soak for about 5  hours in the cold tea or overnight if it's easier, so that they become large, fat and juicy. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4 / 180'C / 350'F. Do this at least 20 minutes before baking the cake. Well grease and line a 2 lb (900g) loaf tin or two 1 lb loaf tins. However, I cooked mine in a round deep tin. You can either use grease-proof paper, like I did, or buy cake liners, but hey, I love to make life more difficult for myself :P In a large bowl mix the flour, salt and sugar and sultana mixture (If you're sultanas soaked up quite a bit of tea, as mine did, then add a little extra tea to level it off). Beat the egg in a jug with a fork and mix this in. Finally add all the spices and mix in evenly. Spoon the mixture into the tin and bake for 1 hour. Leave in the tin after cooking for 15 minutes before taking out. Allow it to cool and serve on it's own or with butter. If you cooked yours in a 2lb loaf tin and it isn't cooked after 1 hour then remove from the oven, cover with foil and bake for another 10 minutes.

Just showing how I lined my baking tin. I cut a long strip that was higher than the tin, and then cut small slices down one edge and so I could fold it into a circle. 

I didn't cut a circle for the bottom although you can, but I used the pre-cutout teflon cake liners I had

Soaking the raisins in the cold tea

You don't have to, but I separated the tea from the raisins so that I could top up any liquid that had been absorbed

Raisins and tea go in..

Adding the Flour Sugar and Salt

Mix ... It coming together now

Whisk the egg in a jug with a whisk (surprisingly) or fork

Add the egg in and mix

Finally, add in the spices with some magical casting... and a few pew pew pew

Pour into tin sweet tin

Smooth out, or if you're lazy just et it gloop level ;)

Mwahahahaha.......

Please comment, and as always, Enjoy!!!