A Penzance Cake

Matthew, originally from Penzance sent me this recipe, with a photo of the page, and so my grateful thanks go to him. The ingredients combination is quite different and so delicious. The cake is very moist and I imagine will be a great keeper. I wonder where it came from and how old it is? Leave for a couple of days at least before cutting.

You will need a 9 inch spring form cake tin, greased and lined. Pre heat your fan oven to 150C.

The recipe below is for a very large cake, so I made half the quantity and used a 6-7 inch square tin, for a change.

1 lb plain flour

4 oz caster sugar

½ teaspoonful bicarbonate of soda

4 oz softened butter

2 teaspoonfuls ground cinnamon

1 lb currants

8 oz crystallised [or stem] ginger, chopped

4 oz chopped mixed peel, finely chopped

2 beaten eggs

5 fl oz tepid milk

In a large bowl, sift the flour, sugar and bicarb and rub in the butter. Add the cinnamon, currants, ginger, and peel and mix to a soft consistency with the eggs and milk.

Tip into your prepared tin and bake for about 1½-1¾ hours until a fine knitting needle comes out clean. My smaller cake took just over an hour. Leave to cool in the tin then turn out onto a rack. Best left for a day or two before cutting.

Just lovely. The high stem ginger content really complements the currants and peel. 

Note: my smaller sized cake took just over an hour to bake, I turned the oven down to 130C  after 45 mins. I have never tried the larger size but I would advice you to turn it down after an hour plus perhaps cover to stop it browning.