Granny’s simple cake

One day 10 years ago, I decided that I should rewrite all Armands’ grandmothers' recipes from her notebook into a much safer place – a computer. For most of the recipes, I had no idea how she prepared them, but I did rewrite them all. Only a few years later, she passed away. 

Not too long ago I had an urge to bring some of the recipes to life. I opened the file and began to read. She had many recipes - various cakes, choux pastry with cottage cheese, poppy seed and cinnamon buns, smoked chicken, fish and meat recipes, etc. I saw this simple cake recipe and decided to make it.

In fact, the recipe was just a bit too simple. She had a list of ingredients, and one simple preparation step – BAKE. No mixing guide, no pan sizes to line or butter, nothing. Just one-word BAKE. Happily enough, I know some of the old recipes, so I did some researching and baked it. I did not make it as plain as she did, but she did that only because there was no other way.  There was no vanilla (nobody even knew it existed), no lemon zest, no cardamom, ginger or other spices – other than cinnamon and that was a treasure, too. Her husband, Armands’ grandfather was a very important man during the Soviet era, so he could get special things, so this recipe includes raisins, apricots, some nuts (hazelnuts grew in Latvia) – very special ingredients during the Soviet era.  

Ingredients

4 large eggs, room temperature
220 g white sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 small organic lemon zest, finely grated
300 g wheat flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
pinch of sea salt
200 g melted, cooled butter 
300 g 25% sour cream
125 g raisins, soaked for 2 h in brandy
125 g dried apricots, cut in smaller pieces
70 g roasted hazelnuts, cut in half

Prepare

Heat oven to 180°. Line a 10 x 25 cm baking pan with baking paper.

Whip the eggs with sugar for 10 minutes, until very light, fluffy and pale. Add vanilla and lemon zest somewhere towards the end. Mix flour with baking powder and salt and sieve. 

With the mixer still running on low speed, add butter to the egg mixture, just to incorporate. Add flour mixture and mix slowly, adding sour cream too. When it is mixed (do not overmix) add dried fruits and nuts. Pour into the pan and bake for 1 hour. Take out of the oven and let it cool completely.

Recipe and pictures: Signe Meirane
Camera: Sony Alpha 7s