225g plain flour

110g margarine

75g currants

2 teaspoons cocoa

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

75g brown sugar

1 teaspoon vinegar

1/4 pint milk

Suggested extra flavourings - nutmeg, ginger, grated lemon rind (I used a pinch of ground nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger)

1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Grease and line your cake tin (don't use anything too large as the above quantity of ingredients makes up a fairly scant volume of mix - my tin was 18cm diameter and this was a bit too big).

2. Rub the margarine into the flour. Add the other dry ingredients and mix well.

3. Add the soda to the vinegar and milk, and then quickly add to the dry ingredients. Beat well and then turn into the tin.

4. I found my cake was baked in about an hour, but the recipe suggests up to 2 hours.