SULTANA & ORANGE CAKE

A dense and buttery orange cake jam packed with juicy sultanas. I’m not sure when I started craving old lady cakes but this was a good indication for me that I’m getting older.

Serves 10

INGREDIENTS

400g sultanas
2 oranges, zest and juice
250ml water
250g butter, cubed
225g (1 cup) caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
2 tablespoons golden syrup
3 size 7 eggs, beaten
250g (2 cups) plain flour 
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

METHOD

Heat the oven to 180ºC regular bake or 160ºC fan bake. Line the base and sides of a 20-22cm square cake tin with baking paper. 

Place the sultanas, orange zest and juice and water in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Bring to a low simmer and cook until the liquid has mostly evaporated (around 10 minutes), stir often to avoid the sultanas sticking to the bottom of the pan. 

Remove from the heat and add the butter, caster sugar, vanilla and golden syrup. Stir to combine then set aside for 10 minutes to allow the mixture to cool and the butter to melt. 

Beat the eggs in a small bowl then add to the saucepan. Sift in the dry ingredients and fold to combine, mix until the ingredients are amalgamated but don’t over mix, otherwise your cake will be very dense.

Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 60 minutes or until cooked through. To avoid it getting too dark on top, loosely place a sheet of tinfoil on top half way through cooking. 

Remove from the oven and leave in the tin for 15 minutes to cool, then transfer to a wire rack.