Orange Raisins Butter Cake
Ingredients:
250g butter
210g castor sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp orange zest (grated)
250g plain flour
1/2 tsp orange paste (optional)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp milk
1 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
Combined:
100g raisins, chopped
5 red cherries, chopped
1 tbsp self-raising flour
Method:
1. Grease sides and line the base of a 21x11x7cm loaf pan with greased greaseproof paper. Preheat oven to 170°C.
2. Combine raisins, cherries and self raising flour in a plastic bag. Shake well until fruits are well coated with flour.
2. Cream butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add in essence. Beat in eggs one at a time (if necessary adding a spoonful of flour with the last egg to prevent the mixture from curdling). Then stir in the orange zest and orange paste.
3. Combine milk and orange juice and gradually add to the creamed mixture. Fold in the sifted flour and baking powder. Mix in the raisins and cherries.
4. Turn out batter into prepared loaf pan and bake in preheated oven for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave the cake in the tin for 5–10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.
