Almond Raisin Cake with Madeira

With the impending return of The Great British Bake Off, Ralph's dusted off his easy baking recipes to share with you all and help you avoid the palaver they have on the telly.  All the recipes will be quick and simple to make and we'll be starting off with this delicious Almond Raisin Cake with Madeira (sweet or medium sherry's OK too), perfect for afternoon tea!


It only takes 15 minutes to prepare and 30 minutes to cook, so it's as easy a baking recipe as you could ask for, but delivers maximum flavour and serves 6 to 8 people (if you can bear to share it).





Ingredients:


250g raisins
200ml Madeira
150ml thick natural yogurt
150ml vegetable oil
3 fresh local eggs (in-keeping with The Egg Award ethos)
140g plain flour
100g ground almonds
2 tsp baking powder
100g light muscovado sugar
icing sugar, to serve

Method:

Tip the raisins into a bowl, pour over the Madeira, then leave for at least 30 mins to soften. 

Meanwhile, heat oven to 180C/ fan 160C/gas 4. Lightly grease a deep 20cm round cake tin, then line the bottom with a circle of greaseproof paper.

Mix together the yogurt, oil and eggs. Put the remaining dry ingredients into a large bowl, pour in the yogurt mixture, then stir together until smooth. Scoop half the raisins out of the Madeira, then stir into the batter. 

Spoon into the prepared tin and smooth the surface with a spoon. Cook in the oven for 50-55 mins until the top springs back when pressed lightly and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.


Then take the skewer and prick all over the cake. Pour over 5 tbsp of the soaking Madeira and let it soak in. 

You can make up to this point 3 days in advance and store in an airtight container. Serve warm or leave to cool, then dust with icing sugar. 

Warm the rest of the soaked raisins and Madeira, then serve alongside the cake with some vanilla ice cream.

This cake keeps really well so you can make it at least a day in advance. If you want to warm the cake before serving, put it back in its tin, cover with tin foil and set in a 160C/fan 140C/gas 3 oven for 10 mins.

Just in case you've forgotten, here's Ralph's easy home made ice cream recipe..... 

Ingredients.....

• 4 fresh local eggs (in-keeping with The Egg Award ethos)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 140g caster sugar
• 300ml pot double cream

Method.....

Separate the eggs. Beat the yolks and and vanilla extract with an electric whisk until light and foamy. 

Clean the whisk, then in another bowl whisk the egg whites, gradually adding the caster sugar until it's
thick and glossy, a bit like making meringues.

Lightly whip the double cream until it softly holds its shape. Mix with the yolks and egg white mixture 
until everything is combined. 

Turn into a container, cover and freeze until solid. 

Take out of the fridge about 10 mins before serving.