SIMPLE BAKING

Hello ladies and gents this is the viking telling you that today we are talking about

Sangria cake

Ingredients

• 100g pears, peeled and chopped
• 100g peaches or nectarines, stoned and chopped
• 100g strawberries , hulled and chopped
• 100g cherries, stoned and chopped
• 280g golden caster sugar
• 225g butter, softened
• 1 orange, zest only
• 150ml red wine
• 225g self-raising flour
• 100g pack ground almonds
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3 medium eggs
• 50ml orange liqueur (we used Cointreau)
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• To decorate
• 1 small orange, cut into wedges
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges
• a handful of strawberries (optional)
• a handful of cherries (optional)

Method

1. Tip the pears, peaches, strawberries and cherries into a bowl and sprinkle over 50g of the sugar. Stir, then set aside for 30 mins to macerate.
2. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and grease and line the base and sides of a 23cm loose-bottomed, round cake tin with baking parchment
3. Tip remaining sugar, butter, orange zest and 100ml red wine into a large bowl and beat with an electric whisk until well blended. Add the flour, almonds, baking powder and eggs, then beat again until smooth. Add half the chopped fruit and 1 tbsp of the liquid from the bowl too and mix gently with a spoon to combine. Put the mixture into your prepared tin and smooth the top so the mixture is level.
4. Bake in the middle of the oven for 1 hr - 1 hr 15 mins until risen, golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cover with foil if the cake starts to brown too much on the top. Once baked, leave in the tin for 15 mins before transferring it to a wire rack to cool.
5. Once the cake is cool enough to handle, but ideally still a little warm, heat the remaining red wine and orange liqueur together with the granulated sugar in a pan until melted, raise the heat and boil for a few mins until syrupy. Flip the cake over and pile the rest of the fruit on top of the cake with then pour the boozy syrup over.
6. Decorate with the orange and lemon wedges along with extra strawberries and cherries if you like. Serve with crème fraiche, or a good quality vanilla ice cream.]

And as always have a chilled day from the viking.