Earl Grey Fruit Tea Loaf Recipe with Whittard

This Fruit Tea Loaf recipe also known as Tea Bread or Teacake is perfect served as part of an Afternoon Tea. The fruit is soaked in hot tea, to help plump up the fruit and infuse the flavour of tea. I used Whittard Earl Grey Loose Tea Pouch. Not only does this make for a fruity and flavoursome cake, best of all it is both a Fat Free Cake and Dairy Free Cake.  It is quite popular to butter a slice of tea bread, which I think tastes particularly nice, however no longer fat free if you use real butter.

Fruit Tea Loaf Recipe

This recipe is used greatly in my family and is a proven favorite. The original recipe is from an old magazine cutting.
Recipe - Earl Grey Fruit Tea Loaf
Equipment

• bowl
• kettle
• measuring jug
• scales  
• wooden spoon
• knife  
• 2 lb loaf tin (or 2 1lb tins) - lined

Baking Tip - I use loaf liners which you can buy from most stores

Recipe Tea Loaf / Tea Bread / Tea Cake - you decide

Ingredients
makes one loaf 2lb loaf or 2 x 1lb loaf

150ml hot tea made with an Earl Grey tea bag (I used Whittard)

200g sultanas
75g dried figs* roughly chopped 
75g prunes* roughly chopped
150g dark muscovado sugar
2 medium eggs beaten
225gr self raising flour
2 level tsp mixed spice
*you can use any fruit you like, sometimes I swap some of the prunes and figs and add dried apricots or cherries.
Instructions


Oven temp 190 or 170 fan, gas mark 5.

• weigh and chop all the fruit and place into a bowl
• make a pot of Earl Grey tea (I used Whittard), lets this brew for a few minutes(pour yourself a cup now if you do not like it too strong)
• Pour 150ml of hot tea over the fruit, leave for 30 minutes to allow the tea to soak into the fruit
• Sit and enjoy your cup of tea (this is compulsory!)
• Beat the sugar and eggs together.
• Add the flour and mixed spice to the egg and sugar and mix together
• Add the fruit and tea and combine well together
• Pour the mixture into the lined loaf tin
• Bake in the oven for 1 hour, the cake is ready when a skewer pushed into the cake comes out clean.

Allow to cool for 5 minutes, before removing from tin and cooling on a wire rack.

It is always nice to enjoy a slice of Early Grey Fruit Tea Loaf whilst still warm.

Loaf Liners are great for Fruit Tea Loaf Recipe

Baking Tip - Perfect cake you can freeze. It is always worth cutting a few slices and placing them in the freezer. If you have used this recipe to make 2 of the 1 lb loaf, I cut one into slices and freeze it. It makes a fabulous slice of cake to get out the freezer for any unexpected guests, a few seconds in the microwave to defrost it leaves it warm and tasting fresh out of the oven. Or leave to thaw at room temperature.Will keep for a week in an air tight container.

Tea Fruit Loaf makes perfect cake you can freeze

I am linking up to Love Cake with October theme of dark, perfect for the muscovado sugar and tea in this recipe. Also linking to #CookBlogShare at Super Golden Bakes.
         
Disclosure - thank you to Whittard who supplied the tea.