A space for recipes

 

I picked up a copy of the June BBC Good Food Magazine at the station last week and was immediately drawn to this simple recipe for a Family Fruit teabread.  It comes from Mary Berrys book My Kitchen Table: 100 Cakes and Bakes by Mary Berry.  I own quite a few Mary Berry books, mostly bought in the 1980s.  

I have to say that I have many similar tea loaf recipes but I dont think that Ive ever seen a more even looking tea loaf, it is a masterly recipe.

Here is my version of Marys teatime cake:

350g/12oz mixture of raisins and dates (because that is what I had in the cupboard)

225g/8oz mix of light and dark muscovado sugar

300ml/1/2 pt hot Assam Tea, made with two tea bags.

275g/10oz self-raising flour

zest of a lemon

1 large egg, beaten

Put the dried fruit and sugar in a bowl and pour over the hot tea.

At this point you are supposed to leave it overnight to soak up the tea, but I didnt have time, so mine got 2 hours and was still pretty wet.

Heat the oven to 150C/130C fan/gas 2

Line a 900g/2lb loaf tin with baking parchment or one of those clever loaf tin liners you can buy from Lakeland.

Add the flour, lemon zest and beaten egg and stir iwth a spoon till mixed through.  My mixture was still quite wet, so I poured it into the tin.

Bake for 11/4 to 11/2 hrs or until it is well risen, firm to the touch and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.