This is a great sultana cake recipe for a traditional, Madeira style cake with added sultanas. The fruit doesn’t sink as it contains ground almonds to give structure to the cake and support the fruit whilst keeping it moist and not dry – it definitely doesn’t taste of almonds, thankfully!
This sultana cake recipe is a really quick to prepare mix but it does take a while in the oven, you’ll need to bake it for anything from 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours as it’s quite dense.
This is also a great recipe for a Cherry Cake using glace cherries, I’ve found other recipes don’t work well with cherries as they are so heavy they often sink in the cake. I’ve never had this recipe sink but it does take a bit more preparation to ensure the cherries stay suspended in the mix. Use the same quantity of glace cherries as sultanas and cut the cherries in half. Wash them in warm water to remove all the syrup then dry carefully on kitchen roll. When completely dry, toss in the ground almonds and add them to the cake mix at the end – stir very carefully so the cherries don’t break up but are evenly mixed through.
I love to eat it when it’s still warm, it might be harder to cut and a bit more crumbly than it would be when cooled, I’ve also seen it eaten spread with butter! Whatever way you choose, I hope you enjoy it.
Sultana Cake
Equipment
- 1 1 lb (454 g) loaf tin
Ingredients
- 115 g butter softened
- 115 g caster sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 125 g plain flour
- 45 g ground almonds
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 225 g sultanas
Instructions
- Line the 1 lb loaf tin – you can buy liners made from greaseproof or silicone paper but if you don't have any just cut a piece of silicone paper to fit. Preheat the oven to 130C. Check the sultanas and remove any stalks.
- Place the softened butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat well until light and creamy. Add the eggs, flour, ground almonds and baking powder and mix until well combined.
- Carefully fold in the sultanas making sure they are well mixed through.
- Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and level the top.
- Bake for 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours until light golden on top and the cake top springs back when lightly pressed in the middle.