You simply cannot celebrate Easter without a hot-cross-bun. This year, the hot-cross-bun went gourmet and we turned it into a hot-cross-bun cake. Which is exactly like a hot-cross-bun, only bigger. And bigger is always better, of course.
Hot-cross-bun cake
Ingredients
- 1,2kg cake flour
- 10ml (2 tsp) salt
- 1,2kg castor sugar
- 10ml (2 tsp) mixed spice
- 10ml (2 tsp) ground nutmeg
- 10ml (2 tsp) ground cinnamon
- 20g (2 sachets) instant dry yeast
- 300ml milk
- 120g butter
- 3 large eggs, beaten
- 250ml (1 cup) lukewarm water
- 500g fruit mix
Instructions
In a bowl, mix the flour, salt, sugar, spice, nutmeg, cinnamon and yeast.
Warm the milk and butter gently just until the butter has melted. Remove from the heat and cool slightly.
Add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients together with the eggs. Mix well, adding just enough lukewarm water to form a soft dough. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.Place the dough in an oiled glass or metal bowl, cover with a damp cloth and leave to rest in a warm place for approximately 15 minutes.
Knock the dough down and knead it again, working in the fruit mix until evenly distributed through the dough. Place in a large, greased cake tin and cover with a damp cloth. Leave in a warm place for another 20 minutes until doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 170°C.
Bake the cake for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Turn out on a rack to cool and tie raffia around before serving.
