Orange Fruit Cake

All my friends know I collect old recipe books and clippings. The older the better. This unusual recipe comes from such a source and I have to thank Rick and Maureen for this. The newspaper clipping is very yellow and aged although I have no idea exactly how old. Well before Celsius and the terms used suggest around 1950s. I have updated it slightly to suit modern times and ingredients. The original recipe tells you to bake it in an “angel cake” tin, explaining it is one with a hole in the centre. This must have been a novelty in those days! I used one of my bundt tins. No photo can do this cake justice, or capture the most wonderful flavour. Keeps well too.

Butter well your tin and pre heat your fan oven to 160C

4 oz softened butter

8 oz caster sugar

2 large eggs

5 fl oz sour cream

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

8 oz plain flour

6 oz sultanas

4 oz chopped walnuts

grated zest of 3 oranges, then juice the oranges

1 teaspoon vanilla extract or bean paste

6 oz icing sugar [for juice]

Start by zesting the oranges, then juice them. Set the juice aside, along with 6 oz of icing sugar stirred into it. Let it stand whisking occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add the eggs, one at a time, then the cream and the sieved flour and soda. Stir in the fruit and nuts, vanilla and zest. Pile into your prepared tin and bake for about 50-60 mins.

Invert your cake onto a rack then with a small pointed knife or fine knitting needle make plenty of little holes on the top [base] of the cake. Drizzle over the orange juice and sugar while it is still warm, allowing it to slide into the slits, and down both sides.

Just delicious. The cake looks gooey in the pic, but it does dry a little, with the most amazing taste. The cake is intensely orangey. A real find.

PS. you could dust with icing sugar before serving if using for a special dessert.