1st Recipe of the Year

Well a very happy Sunday to you all and I hope you've had a good week and are enjoying the weekend. Yesterday was a bit of a baking session as we had made our sour dough bread on thursday which is left to prove overnight in the fridge and then moulded the next day ready to bake after it's second prove. But things didn't quite go to plan and only 2 of the 4 loaves got cooked on friday and the other 2 were left in the fridge overnight ready for baking in Saturday morning. The sour dough bread is a much slower bread to double in size and this is when the flavour is developed.

So while I was getting things organised with the baking of the bread I thought I might as well bake a cake. We have an aga so the different temperatures needed for the bread and the slow baking of the cake are catered for.

The cake recipe today is a Dundee Cake. This recipe was taken from a magazine some time ago so I'm not quite sure where it originated from but it really does make for good eating. The ground almonds help to keep the cake beautifully moist and the very slight hint of lemon gives it a fresh taste.

Ingredients

140gr unsalted butter at room temperature

70gr light brown soft sugar

70gr demerara sugar

20gr ground almonds

3 large eggs lightly beaten

280gr sultanas

zest of half a large lemon

175gr plain flour

15gr self-raising flour

whole blanched almonds to decorate the top

cooking time around 2 hours

Preheat the oven to 150C or gas mark 2. Line a deep round 15-16cm cake tin with baking parchment, then wrap a folded strip of baking parchment around the outside of the tin and tie this with string. This prevents the sides of the cake over colouring and drying out whilst baking.

Cream the butter and 2 sugars together till light and creamy in texture. Then gradually add the beaten eggs. Stir in the ground almonds, lemon zest and sultanas. Add the 2 flours and gently beat  until they  are combined into the mixture.

Spoon into the prepared cake tin and smooth the top of the cake with the back of a wet spoon to give a flat surface. Place the whole almonds on the top in a classic circular pattern or a design of your choice.

Place the cake tin on a baking tray and put in the centre of the oven for around 2hrs. Test with a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake and if this comes out clean the cake is cooked. I cooked mine in the simmering oven of the aga and this tends to not over colour the tops of cakes and meringues but if you find your cake top is colouring too quickly place a sheet of either brown paper of tin foil on the top to prevent it turning dark brown or burning. 

Leave in the tin to cool and once turned out make sure the cake is completely cold before slicing as it tends to crumble and a perfect slice will not be achieved. This size cake will cut into 8-10 decent size slices. Kept in a good air tight tin this cake will store well.

As you can see in the photo the sides of the cake are just a nice golden colour due to the parchment being wrapped on the outside of the tin, so its worth spending those extra couple of minutes on doing this.

I hope if you make this cake you enjoy it as much as we do. If you have any questions or queries please leave a comment at the bottom of the page and I will get back to you asap. Thanks as usual for stopping by and reading this blog, hope to see you soon, take care and happy crafting  Jane x

WISH - Entry for Sunday Stampers Challenge

Well this is my entry for Hels Sheridan's Sunday Stampers Challenge. to view hers and the other entrants click on the link ink on my fingers . 

List of crafting goodies used 

Large tag

Tim Holtz on the edge die

Sizzix make a wish embossing folder

Tim Holtz Alterations texture fades pattern and stitches

Tim Holtz Idea-ology kraft resist paper stash

Craftwork cards mini bohemian pad

Clarity Stencil - square set

Paper Artsy grunge paste

Tim Holtz Idea-ology foliage set

Bead cap ( found with jewellery making items)

Recycled handle from a paper carrier bag !

Treasure gold sapphire metallic wax

Treasure wax gilt pewter

1 brad

Versa-mark ink pad

Adirondack ink pad  watering can

Paints

Paper Artsy Fresco in nougat, pansy and french toast

Liquitex in green gold and white

Stamps

Inkydoodles butterfly set

Kaiser decorative tape pieces

Pan  Pastels in magenta extra dark and turquoise shade

This was made as an experiment using some Pan Pastels which I received for christmas and were completely new to me so it was a bit of the " Give it a go and see ! " I really like the smooth coverage and will be playing with them much more in the future. The leaves around the metal flower and the butterfly at the top were stamped in versa mark and then the pan pastels sponged over the top and I was so pleased at how clear these came out. I will not go through the complete process of making this tag as it is a bit on the long winded side but if you have any questions please leave a comment at the bottom of the page and I will get back to you asap. Thanks for stopping by and reading this blog and hopefully will see you again soon. Take Care and happy crafting Jane x