Golden Sultana Madiera Cake

Now of course traditional Madeira cake has no fruit in it but recently I have grown so fond of the flavour of these delicious little dried fruits that I wanted to put them in a cake. The trick is to pulverise the sultanas in a food processor along with the candied peel before adding the other ingredients, the result is a cake with an even tender texture and no sign of a dried fruit anywhere, but with the moistness and flavour that can only be achieved by their inclusion. I love a Victoria sponge as much as the next person but a cake that has the denseness of a Madeira cake is always a worthwhile teatime treat.
 

For this cake you will need,
200g of self raising flour
100g of ground almonds
240g of light muscovado sugar
4 eggs
240g of unsalted butter (softened)
200g of golden sultanas
80g of candied orange peel soaked in amaretto liquer click here for the recipe
1/2 teaspoon salt

Heat the oven to 140C.
Begin by chopping up the sultanas in the food processor, adding the flour at this stage helps with the process of grinding up the dried fruit. When the sultanas have been fully processed into the flour add the remaining ingredients and process for half a minute until you have a soft evenly mixed consistency. Place the cake mix in a lined large loaf tin, measuring 22cm by 12cm by 7cm and place in the oven for 1 hour 30 minutes to 1 hour 40 minutes until a skewer comes out cleanly. Leave the cake in the tin until fully cool. This cake keeps well for at least a week and is perfect with an afternoon cup of tea.

Notes:
This method of pulverising the fruit before adding to a cake also works well with glacé cherries.