Travels With My Cat

Ingredients

• 140 g (5 oz) self raising flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder (we made sure it was really level, because we were thinking of Mary Berry watching us in our imaginary tent).
• 115 g (4 oz) light soft brown sugar (although, my Little Pet used dark, and actually, it was fine)
• 2 eggs, beaten (we like using Waitbose* Intelligent Eggs, because, then we feel very intelligent, and they taste yummy).* Yes, the shop might actually be called Waitrose, but when we do an online shop, we have to wait for the delivery, and we are the Bose family, so – Wait-Bose makes perfect sense).
• 115 g (4 oz) softish butter (we used salted, but I’m sure unsalted is OK too, and might be better)
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (Sadly, we didn’t have this in our store cupboard, so tried to grind some pieces of cinnamon ourselves, but that didn’t taste so good, so I don’t recommend it).
• 1 teaspoon mixed spice
• 1 tablespoon milk (from moo cows who can wander about outside, naturally)
• 85 g (3 oz) mixed dried sultanas & currants & raisins (still not sure the difference between them all to be honest)
• Sugar Nibs

For the spicy syrup

• 2 tablespoons caster sugar
• 2 tablespoons water (room temp)
• a pinch of mixed spice (paws are not very good at pinching, so I recommend asking a pet to do this for you).

Instucktions

(NB: That’s how cats say, ‘instructions’, I’m not sure why, but it’s true)

We used an all-in-one method-ish, because we like making quick cakes, but I did do it in the following order.

1. Turn on your oven to gas mark 4 (180c /350f)
2. Grease and line a rectangular 18 cm (7″) cake tin / loaf.
3. Cream together the butter and brown sugar (yum!) – make sure it looks nice and fluffy. Add the beaten eggs slowly (don’t just dollop them in in one go).   Be careful, because the whole mixture might curdle and look yucky.  Panic-ye-not if it does, just add a tablespoon of the flour to it, and it will be fine (hopefully).
4. I’ve never sifted in my life, but I’m sure it would be nice if you do.  Anyway, add the flour, the baking powder, mixed spice and cinnamon and get the mixer to mix it all together.
5. Then, in it goes, into the tin. Now, my favourite bit of the cake – the sugar nibs.  Eat some – I mean, sprinkle some (by this I mean, a lot) over the top of the cake.
6. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.  For some reason, my oven takes ages, so I always add an extra 10 minutes to any recipe.
7. Add the caster sugar, water and spices into a saucepan, heat all, and make the syrupy syrup.  Heat slowly to begin with, and then simmer for a bit longer until its thick and syrupy.
8. Once the cake is done, you can turn it over (still warm, but not super hot – mind your paws), and then pour the syrup on downside up (or upside down).
9. Leave to cool, turn it the right way round.
10. Make a cup of tea (or a glass of prosecco) and enjoy!

 

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