KAREN & THE CONSTABLES

My last few baking attempts haven’t gone quite to plan, but I’m glad to say that this one is so easy and so tasty it’s hard to mess up!

My Mum used to make tea loaf when we were little and I’ve been a fan of any kind of fruit cake ever since. You can eat it on its own or with butter and when I took it into work everyone loved it, so it’s definitely worth a try!

This recipe is from a card I picked up in store at Sainsbury’s years ago, but you can also find it online. The website suggests using more expensive ingredients, but I stuck to lower cost brands and was complimented on the taste and the flavours from the mixture of fruit.

You’ll need:
350g mixed dried fruit (I bought the Tesco Value fruit)
350ml black tea (I used my usual brand)
2 eggs, beaten
270g self-raising flour
200g dark soft brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Place the dried fruit in a bowl and pour over the tea. Cover and leave to soak overnight.

Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4. Butter a 2lb loaf tin and line it with baking parchment. (Although I have a fan assisted oven, I just use the conventional oven for baking, and I used a non-stick tin so I didn’t bother with parchment or greasing it).

Add the eggs, flour, sugar and cinnamon to the fruit mixture and combine well.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the surface. (I only half filled my tin and managed to make two loaves from this mixture).

Bake for 1-1½ hours until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake. (Mine took an hour).

Turn out of the tin and cool on a wire rack, then slice and serve with butter.

I wonder what this would taste like using different teas, even fruit teas? Or with some sherry mixed into the tea? I’ll just have to make more to find out!

If you give this recipe a try let me know how you get on!