Lemon and Sultana Bundt Cake

I bake to make other people happy, which makes me very happy. The tricky bit is coming up with something new every time, as I have no time for repeat escapades when it comes to cakes. It's boring! Where's the fun in something that you've conquered before? I need a challenge.

A couple of weeks ago it was my grandma's birthday; the woman who taught me to bake, and who nurtured my 'feeder' gene. As a nipper I would bake Chorley cakes for my grandad, who was the envy of his work pals when he rocked up with several (more than likely mis-shapen) 'flat cakes' as we called them, smothered in butter. That's where I got the bug. I saw how happy the baked stuff made people, and it came a bit of an addiction.

Chronic headaches related to stress? Baking three batches of muffins, at least twice a week - better than painkillers. Bad day at work? Big old bundt to bring joy to the masses. Something worth celebrating? A new recipe created especially for them. There's very little which cake can't at least improve.

My grandma is a fan of dried fruit in her cakes, so I decided to give the bog standard sultana flecked cake a bit of a summer makeover. This one is a delicately spiced sponge topped with zesty lemon curd. Yum yum yum!

Also, look at this tin! This is the new Nordic Ware Crown tin which they launched for their 70th anniversary. I bloody adore it.

Cake:

Thrilled to bits, this one!

• 225g butter
• 450g golden caster sugar
• 4 medium eggs
• Zest and juice of one large lemon
• 350g Homepride plain flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tsp ginger
• 150g sultanas
• 250ml lemon yoghurt 
• 1 jar of decent lemon curd
• 2 tbsp demerara sugar

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to gas 3/160 c
2. Prepare a regular sized bundt tin - 2.4l, 10 cup, 10 inch with melted butter and dust with flour.
3. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 
5. In a separate bowl, measure out the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and ginger. 
6. Stir the sultanas into the four mix.
7. Pour the yoghurt into a jug, and add the lemon juice and zest.
8. Sift in a third of the flour mix followed by half the yoghurt. Repeat this until everything is combined. 
9. Note: your sultanas will be left behind but covered in flour. This will stop them sinking! Pow!
10. Stir the sultanas into the mix.
11. Give everything a quick mix on a low speed for about 10 seconds.
12. Pour the mix into your prepared tin. 
13. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 1 hour 15 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. 
14. Leave the cake to cool for ten minutes before removing from the tin.
15. When the cake is fully cool, tip your lemon curd into a jug and warm in the microwave for around 20 seconds. This will loosen it to a pouring consistency. 
16. Tip it over the cake and sprinkle with demerara sugar. 

Bloggers: Please respect the fact I am sharing my own ideas and basic recipe. Blood, sweat and many tears have gone into getting this right, so you may enjoy a perfect bundt. If you wish to re-blog a recipe from these variations, please credit my blog and link to this original post rather than pasting the recipe on your own page.