This month’s sweet punch is black currant cake slices with spiced apple syrup.   I did not have sufficient time to shop around for fresh black currants hence substituted it with blueberries.   I assumed we need to use fresh currants and substituted it with blueberries.   Looks like I was suppose to use dry currants (raisins).  Well,  my cake was yummy though!  The cake was delicious as it is with out the syrup and  even better with drizzled spiced apple juice  syrup.

Source: Divya

Ingredients:

• 175 gms/ 6 oz Black Currants Blueberries (suppose to use dry currants, a variety of raisins)
• 1″ piece Cinnamon Stick
• 300 ml /10 fl oz Apple Juice
• 175 gms / 6oz Plain White Flour (All Purpose Flour)
• 2 tsp Baking Powder
• 175 gms / 6 oz Unsalted Butter softened
• 175 gms / 6 oz Caster Sugar / Superfine Sugar
• 3 Eggs beaten
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• Oil or Butter for greasing

Preparation:

• In a saucepan, bring blueberries, apple juice and cinnamon to boil.  Remove from heat and let the berries soak in the spiced juice for several hours or overnight.  I soaked mine for five hours.
• Before baking, drain the blueberries in a sieve  by pressing the berries to extract as much juices as possible.  Remove the cinnamon from the berries and keep it aside with the juices.  Reserve both the juice and the blueberries.
• Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F or gas mark 4.
• Sift together flour and baking powder.
• In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy.  I used my electric  hand mixer.
• Add the beaten eggs and vanilla extract and beat well.
• Add flour little at a time, beating well until the flour is mixed well and get a smooth batter.
• Mix half of the cooked blueberries to the batter and transfer the batter to the baking tray.  Spread remaining blueberries on the top of the batter.  I forgot to spread the berries on top and popped the tray in the oven.  When I turned around to cleanup, I realized I forgot to top the blueberries.  Without completely pulling out the tray from the oven, I managed to spread the berries on top.  I could not do it evenly but almost even.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until risen, firm and golden brown.  In my oven it took 30 minutes.
• As the cake bakes, boil the reserved juice and cinnamon stick to reduce by about half, until slightly syrupy.  It took about 10-12 minutes.  Discard the cinnamon stick.
• Cut the cake into slices and serve warm with the hot syrup spooned over.  Baked my cake the night before and enjoyed it watching the super bowl game.