It’s cold, it’s dark, and I wanted to whip up something easy and delicious for some friends coming over for a weekday night dinner. It’s the season to eat all things spiced: I recently made gingerbread (recipe here) and wanted to continue the theme with this Ottolenghi mixed spice cake from his and Helen Goh’s book Sweet.

The key to this recipe is adding soured cream; it takes longer to bake – almost an hour – but the end result is lovely and moist whilst still being light. The original recipe called for a loaf tin but I wanted to make a cake and using this 23cm tin worked perfectly. A sprinkle of icing sugar over the top et voila – a rustic but delicious cake. We served it warm with custard on the night but it was equally good cold the next day with a nice cup of tea.