Marmalade and Raisin Coffee Cake

The past couple of days have been regretfully hectic, and since the end of my defense two days, I've been eating out and sleeping in, letting my body catch a momentary whiff of calm and peace. I spent most of yesterday traipsing Post Alley in downtown Seattle to look for more nuts and herbs and mugs at World Market and Sur La Table. Yes, people know me there. I've also been particularly unmotivated with my culinary escapades mostly because my true nature has set in - I'm as lazy as a goat.

This coffee cake makes for a wonderful Sunday morning breakfast, paired with some hot coffee or tea infused with orange slices, a pat of butter and some fresh fruits. I want to say it's quite like fruitcake for the lazy, but I won't. I used Seville Orange marmalade which I picked up at Safeway for a sudden want of marmalade goodness. It was surprisingly good, and I am a self-proclaimed marmalade fanatic. Marmalade made from Seville oranges are slightly more bitter than the regular "orange jam", but apparently this is the way real Scottish marmalade tastes and I rather quite like it, thank you sirree. Combining the jam with raisins and icing sugar help even out the bitterness. If you don't like marmalade (I'm sorry we can't be friends!), you can always use regular low sugar orange jam.

Marmalade and Raisin Coffee Cake

1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
3 tsp baking powder
2 tsp grated lemon peel
1 cup soy or skim milk
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
3 tbsp margarine
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 tbsp marmalade
3/4 cup raisins
1 tbsp powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a smaller bowl, combine the beaten egg, vanilla, milk and vegetable oil.

In a large bowl mix together dry ingredients, lemon peel and nutmeg. Make a well in the center and gently pour in the egg mixture. Stir with a spatula until just combined.

Cut in the margarine, and add in the raisin. Stir gently. It doesn't matter if the margarine is still lumpy.

Pour half the batter in a 9in. x 5in. loaf pan. Spread the marmalade on top using your spatula. Top off with the remaining batter.

Bake in oven for about 45 - 50 mins until skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Cool on wire rack, sprinkle with sieved powdered sugar and slice with serrated knife.