Keen baker Jen Morris, of Rowney Green, bakes something special for Mother’s Day.
Mothering Sunday falls on March 22 this year and this is one of my mum’s favourite cakes. It’s a light, Mediterranean-style fruit cake, which is a good addition to an afternoon tea, because it isn’t too rich and doesn’t taste too sweet.
It also stores well for a few days because the olive oil keeps the cake moist, but my family always consumes it in one sitting anyway!
Ingredients:
225g self-raising flour
50g caster sugar
125ml milk
4 tbsp orange juice
150ml olive oil (light, not extra-virgin)
100g dried fruit of your choice
25g pine nuts
A little runny honey, to glaze the top
Method:
1) Pre-heat your oven to 180C / Gas Mark 4 and line a 18cm round cake tin with baking parchment.
2) Sieve the flour into a bowl and stir in the sugar.
3) Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, pour in the milk and orange juice and beat together with a wooden spoon. The mixture will be very thick at this stage and will feel more like a bread dough than a cake batter.
4) Pour in the olive oil, dried fruit and pine nuts. Stir to combine. This will take a few minutes of steady stirring, as you are incorporating oil into a cake mix. It may look as if it will never come together, but it will in the end – put some calming music on and take your time. . .
5) Once combined, pour the mix into the cake tin and bake in the pre-heated oven for 45 minutes until golden brown.
6) Carefully take out of the tin and cool on a wire rack. Then, if liked, brush over a little runny honey to glaze the top.