SWEET CAKE
The recipe I would love to share with you today is 3rd Generation from the 1940s/50s. Originally my grandmothers recipe and handed down to me from my mum.
I have fond memories as a child going to visit my nans cottage and the sweet scent of baking filled the air.My Nan in her pinny and the freshly baked soda bread and sweet cake at the ready with lashings of her homemade jam.
My Mum remembers when my nan use to bake this recipe over the open-fire in her Bastible pot, she would place hot embers on top of the lid to contain the heat and they would have to take turns, turning the wheel for the fire which would keep the fire at a constant temperature.
Example of a Bastible pot.
Sweet Cake, as she called it , was only made for special occasions.
The recipe is similar to a buttermilk scone mix without the egg but is baked as a bread.
Sweet cake is really a sweet soda bread.
I use a 12” round cake tin with baking parchment in the base
2 Cups of Plain Flour
1 level tsp of bicarbonate soda
1 1/2 tsp of baking soda
1 level tsp of salt
1 Cup of buttermilk
50g Butter
2 tbsp granulated sugar
Good handful of sultanas or raisins
Oven temperature at 160 degrees
Sieve the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowls , flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking soda and salt. Cut butter into small cubes and add to flour mix , blend butter with fingers tips into a breadcrumb consistency. Add the sugar and raisins or sultanas. Make a well in the centre of flour mix and the cup of buttermilk, combined the ingredients with one hand until it forms a ball and comes clean from sides of bowl , turn onto a floured surface and lightly kneed, don’t over work the mix or it will become tough when cooked , place the bread mix into the prepared tin and press down lightly into shape , score a cross on the top of bread and bake in the oven for 30-40 mins at a temperature of 160 degrees, you can tell it’s cooked through by knocking on the base of bread when out of the tin, wrap the sweet soda bread in a clean tea towel and place on a wire rack to completely cool before cutting.
