Orange Sultana Cake with Orange Icing

1 ½ cups Pam’s sultanas

250g Pam’s butter

½ cup Pam’s orange juice

1 cup Pam’s sugar

3 Pam’s eggs

2 cups Pam’s flour

2 teaspoons Pam’s baking powder

½ cup Pam’s milk

Orange Icing

1 ¾ cups Pam’s icing sugar

3 tablespoons Pam’s orange juice

Place sultanas in a saucepan.

Chop butter roughly.

Add to saucepan with orange juice.

Heat until butter has melted.

Cool

Mix sugar and eggs together and combine with sultana mixture

Sift over flour and baking powder and mix in with milk.

Pour into a baking paper lined 20cm square tin.

Bake at 160 deg C for 1 hour 20 minutes or until cake springs back

Cool.

Spread with Orange Icing.

Orange Icing.

Sift icing sugar.

Mix in orange juice until combined.

Pam’s is a brand name for store products found in New Zealand in New world and Pak’n’Sav stores.

I used the products I have, but the same ingredients if you understand what I mean.

I heated the sultanas, chopped butter and orange juice and before the butter had completely melted I removed the pot from the heat and stirred the mixture allowing the butter to completely melt.

I find this helps speed up the cooling down process.

While it was cooling I prepared the cake tin and the other ingredients:

Beat the sugar and eggs together, and sifted the dry ingredients.

I then added the egg mixture stirring it in and then stirred in the flour and milk together.

It is quite runny so there is no need to worry about folding it in.

I poured the mixture into my butter paper lined tin and baked it for the time needed.

It could have been cooked for slightly let time.

I made the icing and iced it when it was cold.

I find icing a fruit cake looks more professional if you tip the cake upside down so you are actually icing the base.

This is a good easy fruit cake to make and it is not rich but has a mild orange flavour.

Ginger Fruit Bars

1 tablespoon golden syrup

3 tablespoons First Choice Spread

¼ cup caster sugar

¼ cup boiling water

3 First Choice Wheat Biscuits, crushed

1 cup First Choice Self Raising Flour

1 cup coconut

1 cup chopped pitted dates

½ cup finely chopped preserved ginger

½ cup chopped walnuts

Place syrup, spread, sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat (or in the microwave) and melt ingredients.

Add remaining ingredients and mix well

Press mixture into a lightly greased 18cm x 28cm lamington tin.

Bake at 180°C, for approximately 25 minutes.

Cut into 16 bars.

One of the recipes I like where you melt the liquids, add the dry and press in a tin to bake.

Well I followed the directions as I promised.

“First Choice” is a brand of products produced by a supermarket chain a few years ago. I am not aware of them anymore so I couldn’t use them exactly but I still used the equivalent.

I melted all the liquids in a bowl in the microwave and then added each of the remaining ingredients in order, stirring with each addition.

I used Crystallised Glacé Ginger.

However I under estimated the size of the bowl I needed and so they didn’t quite get mixed enough at the end.

I pressed the mixture into my tin but felt it was a bit dry.

I baked it for the required time but didn’t cut it until it had cooled (It didn’t say when to cut it)

It’s a very nice tasting bar (I like dates in baking) and the ginger is not strong.

However as I suspected it has not held very well together and is crumbly.

I will make it again but will make sure it is all mixed thoroughly and if need be, add a little more “spread” (margarine)

Update

Just a little post to let you know I have had a spot of surgery last week so the recipes have been on hold.
However I am recovering and hopefully will be back into it all at the weekend with new recipes