Nikoleta’s Raisin Cake
Raisins
Nikoleta’s Raisin Cake
No eggs, no butter — and still moist, fragrant, and full of flavour. This is the kind of recipe that gets copied out by hand and passed between neighbours. Raisins do most of the work.
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water or fresh orange juice
- ½ cup olive oil or neutral oil
- 1 cup raisins (dark or golden) — Golden Delies raisins
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground cloves (optional)
- Zest of 1 orange
- 1 sachet baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tbsp white or apple cider vinegar
- A pinch of salt
Method
- Preheat oven to 170°C fan (180°C conventional). Grease and flour a 24–26 cm cake tin.
- In a large bowl, mix the oil with the sugar and orange zest until combined.
- Dissolve the baking soda in the orange juice or water. Add the vinegar — it will foam, that’s normal. Pour into the oil mixture and stir.
- Sift in the flour with baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Fold gently until just combined — don’t overmix.
- Stir in the raisins with a spatula.
- Pour into the tin and level the surface.
- Bake 40–45 minutes until golden and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
- Cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out.
Notes
- Orange juice gives a more fragrant result than water — worth using if you have it.
- The vinegar reacting with the baking soda is what lifts the cake in place of eggs — don’t skip it.
- Keeps well for 4–5 days in an airtight tin. Better the next day.
- For more flavour: soak the raisins for 20 minutes in warm water with a splash of brandy before adding.
Why it works
The vinegar reacts with the baking soda to produce carbon dioxide — the classic egg-free way to lift a cake. Olive oil keeps it moist. And our raisins, sun-dried slowly on the hillside at Profitis Ilias, bring a natural sweetness and depth that makes the spices bloom rather than dominate.
