Ingredients :

• Buttermilk — This is what gives it that characteristic moisture. It reacts with the baking soda to create small bubbles in the batter — the result: a slightly airy texture, never compact. Don’t have any? Pour a splash of lemon juice into regular milk and wait five minutes. It works exactly the same way.
• Mixed dried fruits — Raisins, apricots, cranberries, dates — use what you have. The essential trick: coat them in two tablespoons of flour before incorporating them. Without this, they all sink to the bottom and you’re left with a plain cake topped with a layer of stuck fruit. The flour suspends them in the batter throughout the baking process.
• Softened butter — not melted — The nuance is important. Softened means out of the fridge for at least an hour, soft enough that a finger leaves an imprint without effort. Melted is too liquid and you lose the creamy texture that aerates the batter. If you forgot to take it out, cut it into cubes and microwave for 10 seconds — just to soften, not to melt.
• The spice blend — Cinnamon in the lead, nutmeg as support, cloves in the background. Don’t rebalance according to your mood without thinking. If you double the cloves, the cake will have a rather unpleasant medicinal taste. Stick to the given proportions — they are calibrated to stay warm without being aggressive.