Cinnamon and Raisin Marble Loaf Cake

For today's bake it's a simple Cinnamon and Raisin Loaf Cake but sometime it's the simple ones that are the best! If you're looking for a tasty cake that takes next to no time to make and goes well with a cup of tea, then this could be the one for you! And believe it or not as far as I can remember this is the first marble cake I've ever made!

The cinnamon gives it a lovely flavour, the raisins and soured cream make it really moist and light and the marbling adds a bit of fun. This recipe came from the Hummingbird Bakery's Cake Days and it really is simple to make, it's the kind of thing that you could make time and again and also on a whim as most of the ingredients you'll probably have in your cupboards.

The recipe suggested that to marble the cake, the vanilla layer should be spread in the loaf tin first and then the cinnamon layer added on top before being swirled together using a skewer. In my limited knowledge of marbling, I didn't think this would give the greatest effect, so I blobbed spoonful's of each mixture in alternately before swirling and it seemed to work. I also made a bit more of the mixture cinnamon than was suggested as the recipe only called for 200g of cinnamon but this didn't seem like very much. However, I was very pleased with the finished product and I'd make this again! 

I'm entering my cake into this month's Alpha Bakes as the letter this month is 'R'. There are plenty of R's out there and raisins are a simple entry, so if you fancy giving Alpha Bakes a try then check out host Ros's blog - The More Than Occasional Baker. The challenge is hosted on alternate months with Caroline of Caroline Makes.

Ingredients

190g unsalted butter
190g plain flour
190g caster sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
25ml soured cream
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
70g raisins

This one is easy to make. Start by preheating the oven to 170c/150c fan/gas 3 and grease the loaf tin and dust with flour. The recipe states to use a 8.5 x 17.5cm tin, I think mine was a little larger than this but it still turned out fine...but the cake was slightly shallower.

Whisk together the butter and sugar until it is pale and fluffy, this can take up to 5 minutes. It is obviously easier if you start with softer butter! Next beat in the eggs one at a time making sure each addition is fully incorporated, you may also wish to scrape down the sides of the bowl at this point.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and then add to the batter in two parts, mixing on a low speed until the mixture just comes together. To finish, add the sour cream and vanilla essence and mix.

In order to create the two contrasting colours with which to marble the cake, put 250g or up to half of the mixture into a separate bowl and then mix in the cinnamon to this half. Add the raisins into the remaining batter. The recipe then suggests to pour the raisin batter into the tin and then spread the cinnamon batter on top before running a skewer through to marble. However, I don't think this method will give the best marble effect, so I just put alternating random blobs of each mix into the tin and then ran my skewer through.

Bake for 50-60 minutes, mine took a little bit longer. It should feel firm and a skewer should come out clean. Leave in the tin for 5-10 minutes before turning the cake out of the tin to cool completely.

* Adapted from Cake Days by the Hummingbird Bakery.