The Sultana Cake recipe that has taken over our office.

I’m not the hugest fan of sultanas. They made me gag as a kid, so I’ve spend a lifetime shunning fruit and nut chocolate, screwing my nose up at Sultana Bran, and reaching for the (somewhat shameful) fruitless hot cross bun.

But Kate de Brito, Mamamia’s Editor in Chief, loves them sick. Sultanas are her boyfriend. Those brown shrivelled up grapes bring her comfort, energy, and a good solid dose of fibre and she just cannot stop pashing them.  Every damn week on the Mamamia Out Loud podcast she finds a way to drop in a mention of Sultana Cake.

Slowly, like a grape left in the sun for too long, my scorn withered. Because suddenly, EVERYONE wants the recipe. And then I made one and it transported me straight to the warm embrace of the CWA. Forget Zumbo, forget the cronut, the snow egg, macaron monstrosities and tempered chocolate towers. Sometimes you just need a Sultana nanna cake.

And with the Royal Adelaide Show on right now, and the Royal Melbourne one about to begin, fire up the ovens. Sultana cake is so hot right now.

A photo posted by Amy Scott (@amy.p.scott) on Mar 23, 2016 at 10:47pm PDT

#Sultanaspirational.

So here’s the recipe. Get on it.

KDB says this recipe is just a 2,4,6,8 cake, with sultanas added to it. The cake was called that because the ingredients called for 2 eggs, 4 oz of butter, 6 oz of sugar and 8 oz of flour, half a cup of milk, and you could just mix everything together and bake it for an hour.  You could try that. Here’s a slightly modern update:

Ingredients:

2 eggs

4 oz of butter (approx 115 grams)

6 ozof sugar (approx 170 grams)

8 oz of Self Raising flour (approx 230 gms)

1/2 – 1 cup sultanas. (Or however many you like. KDB requests two cups, but that will make the mixture heavy and they will sink to the bottom. She likes that. You might not want a soggy bottom though.)

Method:

Grease and line an 8 inch round cake tin or a log tin.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, combining well after each.

Add the sifted SR Flour and milk in two batches, and fold with a large spatula, or a large metal spoon until just combined.

Add the sultanas and fold through.

Pour into a cake tin and bake for 35-40 minutes.

Cool on a rack.

Monz’s notes: Add 2 teaspoons of vinegar to the milk, and let it sit for 5 minutes until it curdles slightly, before you use it. The acidity will lend some lightness to the cake. 

Add a tablespoon of boiling water  to the mixture right at the end, and fold through.

Then take it to your ladies knitting night and share it generously with the knowledge you are on trend.

Not a baker? Try this super quick, mega easy chocolate truffle recipe… no sultanas allowed.