Sausage breakfast cake

This sounds a bit odd, I hear you say. Well, yes it does, but trust me it tastes delicious. You might not realise it had sausages in it if someone didn't tell you, but there's a hint of something meaty, spicy, and smokey that you can't quite put your finger on. It goes very well with a cup of coffee.

This was made by my good friend Mel for the November meeting of the Stamford Clandestine Cake Club, which was held at the lovely Collyweston Slater pub just outside Stamford. The theme was 'It's cake, but not as we know it'.

Apparently this smells particularly sausagey while cooking, but a couple of days later the smell isn't so strong and just tastes of cake. I would definitely recommend this one, especially if you want to confuse your guests a bit.

450g sausage (without skins)

325g dark brown soft sugar

300g caster sugar

2 eggs beaten

375g sifted plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

235ml brewed coffee

145g raisins

120g walnuts (chopped) and a few whole for decoration

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Grease and flour a 23cm tin. Pour boiling water over raisins and let it stand for 5 mins then drain and dry.

In a large bowl combine sausage, brown sugar and caster sugar. Stir well until blended. Add eggs and beat well.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, ginger, baking powder and spices.

Stir bicarbonate of soda into coffee.

Add flour mixture and coffee alternatively to sausage mixture, beating well after each addition. Fold in the raisins and walnuts in to the cake batter.

Pour the cake batter in to the greased tin. Bake the cake at 180C for 1 hour 30 minutes or until skewer comes out clear.

Cool in the tin for 15 minutes then turn out on to a wire rack.