Buttermilk Cake with Sultanas

Cake. It's not a very exciting cake, but everything seems pretty boring and uncute when compared to last week's post. You can't out-cute the cookie monster macs. It's also not a very pretty cake, but is one of those throw-together on a Sunday arvo cakes that you eat still warm from the oven with a big mug of tea.

For those of you in the US, here in Australia we call raisins sultanas. We reserve the name raisin for a bigger variety of dried grape. I don't know why, but the regular ones have always been sultanas for me. Whatever you call them, I made sure to put a LOT of them in this cake.

As well as being chock-full of sultanas, this cake is made with buttermilk so it has that wonderful light but soft quality and you get from adding buttermilk to anything. It's guaranteed to stop your cake from going dry. You can also add other dried fruit to the cake mixture, or leave it out if sultanas aren't your thing and top it with some lemony icing.

Buttermilk Cake with Sultanas (Raisins)

(adapted from this Gourmet Traveller recipe)

165g (about 1.5 sticks) butter (I used salted, if using unsalted add a pinch of salt to your flour mixture), softened

220g (1 cup) sugar (I used caster/superfine)

2 eggs, room temperature

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

Finely grated zest from 1 lemon

200g (about 1.5 cups) plain/all-purpose flour

100g (about 3/4 cups) self-raising flour

1/4 tsp bicarb (baking) soda

220ml (about 1 cup minus 2 tbsp) buttermilk (or milk mixed with 1 tsp lemon juice)

2 cups (350g) sultanas/raisins

1. Preheat oven to 170°C (340°F) and grease and line a 20cm square cake tin with baking paper. 
2. Mix flours and baking soda in a bowl together and set aside
3. Place butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat on high with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. 
4. Add eggs one at a time, beating to combine. 
5. Add vanilla and lemon zest and beat to combine.
6. With the mixer on low speed add half the flour mixture, follow by half the buttermilk mixture. Repeat with remaining flour and buttermilk. Mix until just combined.
7. Fold in sultanas and pour mixture into prepared tin. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
8. Cool in tin for 10 minutes then carefully remove and cool on wire rack before serving. Can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for a couple days.