BOILED RAISINS CAKE

Firstly, after my break, I must thank Nicola for passing on to me the WI Book of Recipes From Cornwall, dated from the 1960s. It is a veritable treasure trove of recipes and I will be making several from the book over the autumn and winter. I will tweak them, adapting to modern tastes but for the most part I will bake as printed, except that almost all recipes use margarine and not butter. There is NO WAY I will be doing that. How times change.

In this lovely fruit cake recipe, the raisins are boiled, not the whole cake! You need to start a couple of hours before you intend to bake. I will quote the book, which is for a 6” cake but I increased the quantities [half as much again] to bake an 8” - my husband would think I had gone bonkers if I made a small cake.

Pre heat you fan oven to 160C [350F] Grease and line the base of your tin.

6 oz raisins

3 oz butter

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

4 oz caster sugar

1 egg, beaten

6 oz plain flour 

½ teacup of the raisin water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Put the raisins in a saucepan with enough water to cover, bring to the boil, simmering very gently for ten mins then drain the water, leaving both to chill.

Cream the butter, vanilla and sugar. Sieve together the flour and spices, Add the bicarb to the beaten egg. Add the eggy mix, then half the flour with half the raisin water and fruit, mix well, then mix in the remaining half. Tip into your prepared tin and roughly level off.

Bake for 45 mins at 160C, then lower temp to 135C for a further 20 mins or until firm to the touch and nicely browned. Cool on a rack and wait for a day before cutting, if you can. Not easy!

An absolutely beautiful old fruit cake recipe! I can’t wait to bake more from the book.