Matthew's Country Tea Bread
Made with Lost Malawi tea and is excellent sliced and buttered with a cup of the same blend.
For the Fruit:
300g sultanas
100g currants
50g natural glace cherries
4 tablespoons runny honey
½ pint Lost Malawi or RAF tea made with 3 teaspoons of tea
Grated rind of one orange
Chop the cherries, pick over and wash the fruit and place in a large bowl. Carefully brew the tea and leave to cool. Add the strained tea, orange rind and the honey to the fruit, mix, cover and leave to stand overnight.
For the cake:
2 eggs, beaten
450g 85% self raising flour
50g melted butter
Next day add the eggs, flour and melted butter to the fruit and stir well. Grease and base-line a 2lb loaf tin. Spoon the mixture into the tin, level the top and place on the lower shelf of the oven, preheated to 180c.
For the topping:
1 tablespoon runny honey
50g Demerara sugar
50g chopped walnuts
After 50 minutes, remove from the oven, brush the top with the honey and sprinkle with the sugar and nuts. Return to the oven for a further 15 minutes. Leave in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn onto a cooling rack, remove the lining paper and leave to cool.
When completely cold, wrap in greaseproof paper and store in an airtight tin for 3-4 days.
It is easy to adapt this cake for special diets. Replace the eggs with 3 tablespoons apple puree, the melted butter with a good quality margarine, the flour with a gluten-free option and omit the nuts, as needed. For a gluten-free cake you may need the juice of half a large orange to loosen the batter.