Cinnamon & Sultana Loaf

Back again, today I decided to make this Cinnamon and Sultana loaf from The Hummingbird Bakery Recipe Book called Cake Days

This loaf is super yummy and not tooooo sweet! Also there are sultanas in it so therefore I am totally being healthy! ;) 

Serves 8-10 

Ingredients you will need

190 grams unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

190g plain flour, plus extra for dusting 

190g caster sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

25ml soured cream

1 tsp vanilla essence, 1 used a half teaspoon of vanilla bean paste because it enhances the flavours of the cake overall

1 tbsp ground cinnamon, I only used a half tbsp because I didn't want it too overpowering

70g raisins, I used around 80g

Cinnamon sugar for dusting, I used icing sugar because I didn't have any in my cupboard

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celcius, then grease the loaf tin with butter and dust with flour 

(My loaf tin was quite big, it was about 25x10cm, I recommend using a smaller tin so the loaf is not really short, maybe a 8.5x17.5

2. Using a hand held electric whisk or a freestanding electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.

(I would say you have to mix the butter and sugar for at least 5 minutes for it to be mixed properly)

3. Break the eggs in one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl to make sure all the ingredients are fully mixed in

4. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt, then add to the egg, butter and sugar mixture in two turns mixing on a low speed so that the flour doesn't fly everywhere! Finally. mix in the sour cream and vanilla essence/paste

5. Spoon 200g of the batter into a small bowl and stir in the cinnamon. Stir the raisins into the remaining batter, then pour the raisin batter into the tin. Spoon the cinnamon batter on top and swirl the two together for a marbled effect. 

(My cake didn't turn out to be marbled but rather two layers, make sure that you use a fork and slowly mix the cake batters to create that marble effect that I didn't achieve!)

 6. Bake the loaf in the oven for 50-60 minutes or until the sponge feels firm on top and when you insert a skewer it comes out clean. 

(My oven is quite hot so I only needed to bake my loaf for about 45 minutes)

Allow the loaf to cool a little before turning it out of the tin on to a wire rack to cool completely before you serve!

Tip: This loaf would taste really nice served warm with a dollop of cream!

So there we go! A delicious, somewhat healthy (not really) cinnamon & sultana loaf! Hope you enjoy 

Love C xxxx