Whilst tea is wonderful for drinking, it can also be used in cooking, soaking your dried fruits in tea overnight before making a tea loaf produces wonderful results, and it's super easy to make. If you have a stand mixer that's great but it also really simple to mix by hand, so don't worry if you don't have one.
What you will need to make your perfect tea loaf.
Equipment:
- 2 loaf tins
- Baking paper
- A mixer or a large mixing bowl
- A bowl for soaking the dried fruit in
Ingredients (makes two tea loafs):
- 115g each of raisins, sultanas, currents
- 350g golden caster sugar
- 600ml of either Earl Grey tea, or Castlefield Breakfast tea
- grated zest of two lemons and two oranges
- 2 eggs
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 200g of plain four
- 350g of wholemeal flour (I like to use wholemeal rye flour)
Method:
- Make your tea. I like to make a strong tea for this cake, so I'll use 8g of tea and steep for 5 minutes.
- Place the dried fruits and sugar in a large bowl, pour the hot tea over the fruits, cover and leave to soak overnight
- Take the mixing bowl of your stand mixer or a large mixing bowl and combine the two flours, the baking powder and grated zest from the lemons and oranges, then add the two eggs.
- Now pour in the dried fruits and tea mixture and then mix either by hand or in your mixer until well combined
- Divide the mixture equally between two cake tins lined with grease-proof paper wiped with a little oil and place in a pre-heated oven at 150 degrees Celsius.
- Bake for 1-1 1/2 hours
- The cakes are done when a skewer comes out clean
- Leave to cool
Once the cakes are cool you can wrap them in cling film or waxed paper. They will keep for 3-4 days at room temperature.
