Grandma Bennett's Sultana Cake

This recipe is taken from an oral recount of my wife's Mum's Mum - a madeira/genoa-like butter cake with tons of plump sultanas.

The flavour is enhanced by the boiled sultanas - the boiling seems to get rid of some of the sweetness and plumps up the fruit making it even yummier. You can boil the sultanas in Earl Grey Tea for an even yummier taste sensation (Gran would disapprove of this variation - in this instance she would have been wrong tho).

I don't usually like fruit cake - this one is nice though.

Ingredients are in imperial measures as Grandma Bennett never could get the hang of kilomotors and centi-doodads

Ingredients

• 1 lb of Sultanas
• 8 oz Butter at room temp (margarine will do, but is not as nice)
• 1 ½ cups Sugar (or less if you are worried about this)
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 3 Eggs
• 2 ½ cups Plain Flour
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• pinch salt

Method

1. Cover sultanas with water in saucepan and boil gently for 5 minutes, drain and cool.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar with the vanilla, then add eggs one at a time, mixing well in between each addition.
3. Mix the flour, Baking Powder and salt into the sultanas and then add this to the butter-egg mixture, mixing until combined.
4. Place batter into a greased, floured and papered tin (8 inch square or 2 loaf tins)
5. Bake in a moderate oven for 30 minutes and then a slow oven for 1 hour. Leave in tin until it is cold (this helps it stay moist).
6. Eat and enjoy

How did they go? - let me know

Notes

• Glace Cherries could also be added to this cake for extra twang but is is really nice with a cup of tea after a long day.

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