Homemade Country Slices
A homemade version of a classic country slice! There's a fluffy, lightly spiced sponge cake that's full of plenty of dried fruit & topped with crunchy sugar nibs.
Servings: 16 Slices
Equipment
- 9" x 12" Baking Tin
- Stand Mixer
- Mixing Bowl
- Sieve
- Saucepan
Ingredients
Soaked Fruit
- 75 g Sultanas
- 75 g Raisins
- 50 g Currant
- 250 ml Hot Black Tea (See Notes)
Cake Batter
- 225 g Unsalted Butter (Softened)
- 225 g Caster Sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 4 Large Eggs
- 225 g Plain Flour
- 2¼ tsp Baking Powder
- ½ tsp Ground Cinnamon
- ½ tsp Ground Ginger
- ¼ tsp Ground Allspice
- ¼ tsp Table Salt
- 30 g Sugar Nibs (Pearl Sugar)
Tea Syrup
- 100 g Water
- 1 Tea Bag (See Notes)
- 100 g Caster Sugar
Instructions
Soaked Fruit
- Add the sultanas, raisins & currants into a small mixing bowl, pour over the tea then leave to soak for at least 30 minutes.
- Once soaked, tip the fruit into a sieve & leave to drain well.
Cake Batter
- Preheat an oven to 175°c/155°c fan (347°f/311°f). You'll also need to grease & line a 9" x 12" baking tin.
- Add the softened butter & the caster sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer then beat, using the paddle attachment until the mix is pale & fluffy. This will take around 5 minutes, on a medium speed.
- Next, add in the vanilla extract then mix the eggs in one at a time, with the mixer running on a medium speed.Make sure to give the bowl a scrape down regularly, with a spatula!
- Once the eggs have been mixed in, take the bowl off the mixer then sift in the flour, baking powder & spices. Add in the salt then place the bowl back onto the mixer & mix on a low speed, until the flour is just combined. A few streaks of flour is fine at this point, as it will be mixed in when we add in the fruit.
- Next, add the soaked fruit into the cake batter then fold in with a spatula until incorporated. The fruit should be evenly dispersed through the batter.
- Transfer the cake batter to the lined tin, spread into an even layer with a palette knife then top with the sugar nibs. Bake in the preheated oven for 28-30 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.Make sure to sprinkle the sugar evenly over the cake!
Tea Syrup
- Whilst the cake bakes, make the tea syrup. To do this, add the water into a small saucepan then set over a medium-high heat & bring to the boil.
- Once the water is up to the boil, take the pan off the heat and add in the tea bag. Leave to steep for 2-3 minutes then take the tea bag out.
- Add the sugar into the tea then set the pan over a medium heat & cook, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Bring the syrup up to the boil then take the pan off the heat & set to one side until your cake is cooked.The syrup should be warm when we use it.
Soaking The Cake
- Once the cake is cooked, let it cool for 10 minutes then brush the top with a light coating of the warm tea syrup. Leave to soak for 5 minutes then brush on another coating of syrup.
- Let the cake cool in the tin, until cool enough to handle (around 30 minutes) then transfer to a wire cooling rack & leave to cool completely.
- To serve, cut the cake in half down the length then cut into rectangular pieces. I got 16 pieces out of my traybake!I find that a sharp, serrated knife works best for cutting the cake.
Notes
1. To Cook In An Aga - Bake the cake on a grid shelf placed on the floor of the baking oven. Slide a cold plain shelf onto the top set of runners just before baking the cake, leaving it in for the duration of the cook. Use the boiling plate to cook the syrup.
2. Fruit - Classic country slices are made with sultanas & currants but I added raisins into mine as well. Feel free to replace the raisins with extra sultanas if you'd prefer.
3. Tea - I used Yorkshire tea for soaking the fruit & the tea syrup but any type of black tea will work. Earl Grey would work as well! For the black tea which was used to soak the fruit, I used 1 tea bag.
4. Storage - Once cool, this cake needs to be stored in an airtight container & is best eaten within 3 days.