I’ve started developing really small cake recipes, simply making a virtue out of necessity. I hardly find people who can finish an entire cake slice by themselves, so having another slice is out of the question. Just like the shrinking size of everything these days, honey, I shrunk the cake pan. If you’re not familiar with that expression, let’s please ignore the subtext of my age and move on.
This cake I made over the weekend because I had some dried cranberries left over and did not know what to do with them. So I soaked them in a little Cointreau and threw them into this vanilla cake. The alcohol really helps revive the dried fruit and adds a punch of flavor that’s otherwise missing from dried fruit. Also, it’s always a clever move to add any fruits or nuts that you might be adding into your cake into the flour (dry) mix first, then into the cake better. This will help to ensure that the fruits don’t sink to the bottom of the cake pan while cooking in the oven.
Enjoy this perfect tea cake the next time you’re in the mood to bake!
Ingredients
- 85g Soft Unsalted Butter
- 100g Fine Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 130g Cake Flour
- 1/4 Tsp Baking Soda
- 30ml (2 Tbsp) Full Fat Milk
- 60ml (1/4 Cup) Plain Yoghurt
- 100g Dried Cranberries
- 60ml (1/4 Cup) Cointruea
- Icing Sugar to dust atop the cake
Method
- Soak the dried cranberries in the alcohol for about 10 mins prior to starting on this recipe.
- Preheat the oven to 170 Degrees Celcius and grease and line a 6 inch round cake tin. The one I use has a removable base. You need only line the base, but grease the entire inside of the cake tin with butter.
- In a small bowl, sieve together the flour and baking soda. Drain the cranberries and add them to the flour, stir through until the berries are well dispersed in the flour. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy (about 2 mins by hand). Then, add the egg and mix well, until fully incorporated (about 30s). After this, add half of the dry mixture and the whole milk into the egg mixture. Whisk until just combined, about 1 min. Then, add the remaining flour and yoghurt. Continue to whisk until just combined, about another minute.
- Transfer batter to the pan, smoothen out the the batter and place into the middle rack of the oven. Bake for 30 mins, with the top covered in foil. Then, remove the foil and continue baking for another 10 mins. Remove cake from oven when skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
- Let cool to room temperature before removing cake from pan. Dust lightly with icing sugar and serve with tea.
