After going sledging with Kiri this morning I decided to warm up this afternoon by doing some baking. My neighbours very kindly cleared the 6 inches of snow from my path and doorstep this morning, so I thought I would bake something I could give them as a thank you. Kiri also wanted to bake something so I looked through my cookbooks for ideas and the first book I pulled out was my favourite book – the Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days. Since I’ve nearly exhausted all the cupcakes, I decided to look at the other things in the book and came across a recipe for cinnamon and raisin loaf.
The recipe was for one loaf (3.5″ x 7″) but I decided to make mini ones. I gave the cookery advice helpline (a.k.a. mum) a quick call to check about baking times and temperatures. After discussing it with mum, I decided to leave the temperature the same but decreased the baking time. That was the hard part – after that decision was made, they were pretty straight forward to make.
After they’d cooled down slightly, I had to try one straight away while it was still warm. It was delicious. I then bagged the others up as presents for people.
Cinnamon and Raisin Loaf Cakes (from The Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days)
Makes 6 mini loaves or one 3″x7″
190g unsalted butter
190g caster sugar
3 eggs
190g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
25ml soured cream
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
70g raisins
Preheat the oven to gas mark 3 (170 C, 325 F). If using metal loaf tin(s) grease and dust with flour – I used 6 mini cardboard loaf cases so I didn’t grease them.
Cream the butter and sugar together until pale andn fluffy and then add the eggs one at a time. Add the flour, baking powder and salt to the mixer in two batches and mix until just incorporated. Finally add the soured cream and vanilla and mix briefly until combined.
Spoon out 200g of the mixture and mix the cinnamon with it. Stir the raisins into the remaining mixture. Divide the raisin mixture between the 6 mini loaf tins (or put in the one tin), then place the cinnamon mixture on top. Swirl the cinnamon and raisin mixtures together (using a cocktail stick) to create a marbled effect.
Bake the loaf in the oven for 50-60 minutes. If making small loaves, then check after 30 minutes – mine needed about 40-45 minutes in total. They are cooked when they are browned on top and a skewer comes out clean.
They look lovely! I have this book but somehow seem to have missed this recipe. I’ll need to have a look 🙂
Thank you! Think it might be my favourite book 🙂 this recipe’s from the Christmas section- bit late but I figured it was perfect for the wintery weather at the moment!
They look delicious, hope the neighbours liked them!
thanks! the neighbours said they were delicious!