Bara brith (Welsh tea bread)

Bara brith in Welsh apparently means “speckled bread” – the “speckles” being the currants/raisins/sultanas that generously dot the bread. This is a tea bread – literally, because the dried fruit are soaked overnight in strong black tea, and also because it’s meant to be eaten at tea-time… or so I imagine. I can’t vouch for the second half of the previous sentence but I can tell you the first half is undoubtedly true. I got the recipe from a TV cookery competition show that I watched on and off (whenever I remembered) last year.

I don’t really know why this is regarded as a tea bread rather than a fruitcake. Texture-wise, the crumb was not really cake-y… not even fruitcake-y - insofar as you could see the crumb in between all that fruit, that is. (I might have overdone the dried fruits just a tad). I guess it was more like bread, somewhat denser than cake. Bara brith is meant to be eaten spread with butter, just like bread. It’s also meant to be yum, and it sure was. (Not that anybody would deliberately cook anything that wasn’t meant to be yum… but y’know it had to be said.) Easy-peasy recipe, too.  

Recipe for: Bara brith (Welsh tea bread)


Ingredients:

250gm mixed dried fruit (currants, sultanas and/or raisins)
100gm dark brown muscovado sugar
225ml strong hot tea (no milk)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg powder
1 large egg, beaten
250gm self-raising white or brown flour

Method:

1. Put the dried fruit and sugar into a large mixing bowl. Pour over the hot tea and stir well. Cover the bowl and leave to soak overnight.


2. When you are ready to bake the bara brith, spray a 450gm loaf tin with Pam and set aside. Preheat oven to 160C.

3. Drain any remaining tea from the fruit. Add the salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and stir well with a wooden spoon. Add the beaten egg and stir again.


4. Mix in the flour and transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan.


5. Bake in the heated oven for about an hour (but start checking at around 40 minutes) till the bara brith is done and a tester inserted in the centre comes out clean.


6. Leave the loaf in the tin for 15 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire cooling rack and let it cool completely.

7. Serve thickly sliced and buttered.




RECIPE: BARA BRITH (Welsh tea bread)

Ingredients:

250gm mixed dried fruit (currants, sultanas and/or raisins)
100gm dark brown muscovado sugar
225ml strong hot tea (no milk)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg powder
1 large egg, beaten
250gm self-raising white or brown flour

Method:

1. Put the dried fruit and sugar into a large mixing bowl. Pour over the hot tea and stir well. Cover the bowl and leave to soak overnight.
2. When you are ready to bake the bara brith, spray a 450gm loaf tin with Pam and set aside. Preheat oven to 160C.
3. Drain any remaining tea from the fruit. Add the salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and stir well with a wooden spoon. Add the beaten egg and stir again.
4. Mix in the flour and transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan.
5. Bake in the heated oven for about an hour (but start checking at around 40 minutes) till the bara brith is done and a tester inserted in the centre comes out clean.
6. Leave the loaf in the tin for 15 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire cooling rack and let it cool completely.
7. Serve thickly sliced and buttered.

Eggless banana almond fruitcake

My husband loves fruitcake in all forms – heavy and dense, light and fluffy, dry and crumbly, with exotic dried fruit or just with currants, with nuts or without, egg-free or eggful, fancy or homely, buzzing with alcohol or completely teetotal… you name it, he’ll eat it. Of course it goes without saying that he prefers fruitcake that's well-made to one that's second-rate... but in a pinch he'll eat the second-rate one too. In general he can be as nutty as a – pardon me for this – fruitcake when it comes to this variety of cake. Me, on the other hand… I can take fruitcake or leave it. It’s marginally more “take it” if it’s got nuts in it that cut the sweetness of all the dried fruit, so I usually add some to most fruitcakes I make.

And because Pete mostly doesn’t mind how his fruitcake turns out, as long as it’s not turned to coal, I feel free to experiment without worrying about “what ifs” like “what if the cake’s heavy like a brick”, or “what if it’s so crumbly that you choke on fruitcake dust”, and so on. (I’ve even made fruitcake with dark chocolate that needs to see the light of day at some point.)

Anyway, this cake combines the best of what Pete likes (dried fruit) with the best of what I like (banana) with some dried sour cherries (bought in the YewYessYay, naturally) thrown in for that “exotic” touch. The addition of mashed overripe bananas was a touch of genius if I do say so myself, because the flavour it gave the fruitcake – helped by the addition of cardamom powder – was luvverly. It was almost like an Indian fruitcake, if there is such a thing. If there isn’t, there is now.

The cake keeps well and stays moist at room temperature (under cover, that is, not left open to the elements) for at least a week that I can vouch for. We both think it tastes gorgeous too – let me put it this way, we’re all three made for each other because if he’s nutty about banana fruitcake, I’m bananas about nutty fruitcake, and the fruitcake is bananas and nuts anyway. See what I mean?

Recipe for: Banana almond fruitcake



Ingredients:

2 medium overripe bananas, mashed well
1-1/2 cups plain flour or wholewheat cake flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp ground cardamom seeds
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup Splenda 1/4 cup sugar
2 cups dried fruit (I used currants, dried sour cherries, chopped mixed citrus peel)
1/4 cup almond slivers
1 cup + 2 tbsp milk (or as needed)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 1/2 tsp baking powder

Method:

1. Sift the flour and spices together with the Splenda, sugar and salt. 2. Add the dried fruit



and the dried cherries, mix them into the flour.



3. Make a well in the flour-fruit mix, then add the almond slivers and the mashed banana.



Mix again.

4. Add milk little by little, mixing as you go.



The batter should be thick. It is the correct consistency when it drips slowly off the back of a spoon. Mix in more milk if it's too thick, to get it to the right consistency,



5. Pour the batter into an 8" square or round pan sprayed with Pam or greased with butter.



Bake at 180C for about an hour, or till the cake tests done. Start checking at the 45-minute mark as different ovens work differently. 6. Remove the cake tin from the oven, and let the cake sit in the tin for 10 minutes.



7. Unmould the cake onto a wire cooling rack and let cool completely. This cake stays good at room temperature for a few days.

RECIPE: EGGLESS BANANA ALMOND FRUITCAKE

Ingredients:

2 overripe bananas, mashed
1-1/2 cups plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cardamom seeds
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup Splenda
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups dried fruit (currants, dried sour cherries, chopped mixed citrus peel)
1/4 cup almond slivers
1 cup + 2 tbsp milk (or as needed)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp baking powder

Method:

1. Sift the flour and spices together with the Splenda, sugar and salt.
2. Add the dried fruit and the dried cherries, mix them into the flour.
3. Make a well in the flour-fruit mix, then add the almond slivers and the mashed banana. Mix again.
4. Add milk little by little, mixing as you go. The batter should be thick. It is the correct consistency when it drips slowly off the back of a spoon. Mix in more milk if it's too thick, to get it to the right consistency,
5. Pour the batter into an 8" square or round pan sprayed with Pam or greased well with butter. Bake at 180C for about an hour, or till the cake tests done. Start checking at the 45-minute mark as different ovens work differently.
6. Remove the cake tin from the oven, and let the cake sit in the tin for 10 minutes.
7. Unmould the cake onto a wire cooling rack and let cool completely. This cake stays good at room temperature for a few days.

Banana bread-and-butter pudding

The nice thing about this bread-and-butter pudding is that it needs only 1 tbsp sugar – the natural sweetness of bananas, sultanas and currants more than suffices, especially for those without a sweet tooth the size of Ayers Rock. And if you don’t wish to use even that 1 tbsp sugar (mainly to sprinkle on top, for caramelisation purposes), well, this becomes an entirely processed-sugar-free recipe. Not bad for a dessert, is it? Serve this pudding with sugar-free or low-sugar icecream, or light cream, and the sin points still wouldn’t add up as much as from, say, a slice of frosted chocolate cake with cream.

Pete, as usual, doesn’t like desserts which combine eggs and milk – even if the end result isn’t as custardy as custard-from-scratch. To his credit, he did try a spoonful of this banana bread-and-butter pudding and pronounced it “very tasty”… but it still didn’t encourage him to go for a separate portion of his own. Which is okay, because I’ll get to have this over the next 4 days. It makes for a pretty small(ish) pudding – three reasonable servings, or four small ones, or two large greedy ones. All without the addition of icecream, that is.

It would be best to use slightly overripe bananas in this recipe, as there is no extra sugar added (worth saying again, I think!). Served warm, this pudding is really rather nice on a cold evening.

Recipe for: Banana bread-and-butter pudding



Ingredients:

4 slices bread
1 tbsp butter
3 tbsp sultanas
3 tbsp currants
1 large ripe banana, sliced
1 tbsp demerara sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 cup (225ml) milk

Method:

1. Beat the egg and milk together with the vanilla extract. Reserve.



2. Cut the crusts off the bread.



3. Lightly butter one side of each slice and cut each slice into four.



4. Mix the sliced bananas with the sultanas and currants.



5. Butter a 1-litre baking dish lightly. Arrange half the pieces of bread, buttered side up, in the bottom of the baking dish.



6. Spoon half the banana-sultana mix over the bread.



7. Pour half the milk mixture over this, making sure to cover all the bread. Sprinkle 1/2 tbsp demerara sugar over.



8. Layer the remaining pieces of bread, buttered side up again,



then the remaining banana slices,



and pour the rest of the milk over.



Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 tbsp of demerara sugar over the top.



9. Press down gently and evenly to make sure that the bread pieces are all covered by the milk. Allow to soak for at least 30 minutes in the fridge.

10. Heat the oven to 180C and bake the pudding for 30-40 minutes or till the top layer of banana pieces are caramelised and the bread turns golden brown.



11. Serve warm as is, or with ice-cream or cream, if preferred.

Power fruit cake

Anybody remember the powering-up war-cry of He-Man (of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe fame) – “Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii’ve got the POWER!”? Well, if this cake had a voice – and the exaggerated V-shaped over-muscular animated cartoon body of He-Man - that’s what it would be shouting – “Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii’ve got the POWERRRRR!”. And it would be right, it’s got dried goji berries, blueberries, cranberries, sour cherries and currants, not to mention almonds, and if that doesn’t make a powerful cake, I don’t know what does.

Recipe for: Power fruit cake



Ingredients:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter, cut into pieces
2 cups mixed fruit (I used cranberries, goji berries, blueberries, dried sour cherries and currants)
1/4 cup sliced almonds (or other chopped nuts of choice)
1 tsp mixed spice
1/4 tsp clove powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp cardamom powder
1/2 pint milk
1 cup glace cherries washed of excess syrup and dried on kitchen paper
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup self-raising flour
1 tsp soda bicarb

Method:

1. Place the sugar, butter, fruit, spices and milk in a large saucepan and bring to the boil.



Boil for a minute or two, then switch off the heat and let the mixture cool. It might look curdled as it cools, but dont worry, all will be well.

2. Preheat the oven to 160C.

3. Add the nuts to the fruit mixture and stir,



then add the beaten eggs and mix well.



4. Add the flour and fold through the mix. The batter will be quite thick.



6. Place the mixture in a greased, deep square 8" cake tin.



Bake for about 1 hour, checking that the cake isnt burning on the top, after about 30 minutes. If it looks like browning too quickly, cover the top with brown paper.

7. The cake might need more than an hour to cook, or less, depending on the sort of oven you have. After 40 minutes, check the cake with a skewer to see if it's cooked. If not, check every 7 minutes until the tester comes out clean.



8. Cool in the cake tin for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Polenta currant cake

I made this cake for Christmas specially for my mother-in-law, as she couldnt eat the Christmas fruit cake because of her serious nut allergy. She has to be very careful what she eats - and by extension I have to be even more careful when she stays with us, making sure that everything I cook doesnt even have a hint of nuts. The recipe for this cake is from a book called "Cakes and Bakes" which I bought just before Christmas from a discount book store - man I LOVE those places! You can get such great bargains.

Anyway, the book has simple recipes with stunning photos... and this recipe caught my eye because it was different. It was called "Crunchy fruit cake", made with mixed exotic (read: dried pineapple, mango, etc) dried fruit and pine nuts. I fully intended to use the exotic mix because I had a bagful of it. (Had to leave out the pine nuts for obvious reasons.)

Just before I actually added the fruit to the cake mix, I glanced at the ingredient list and below that the allergy advice, not really expecting to see anything other than "dried mango, pineapple, papaya" and so on, and totally expecting it to only contain fruit. What else would you expect in a dried fruit mix, right?

I should have known better, though, because the pack said the contents were not suitable for nut allergy sufferers even though - get this - the recipe contained no nuts, the product was made in a nut-free area, but the contents could not be guaranteed nut-free as nuts might have been used elsewhere in the factory.

ARRRGH!

This is something that most food manufacturers seem to be stating nowadays as a way of covering their backside - just in case some nut allergy sufferer tries to sue them after a bad reaction to their product, I suppose. The thing is, no nut allergy sufferer can afford to take the risk of assuming that the manufacturers are only warning them off as a CYA (Cover Your Ass) procedure. So it makes it really difficult for people to buy ready-made food stuffs, even if it's only dried fruit for a cake!

I was really, really, REALLY glad that I happened to check the ingredients - perhaps there might not have been any nut traces in the dried fruit, but on the other hand, there might have been... and that could very well have been fatal for my mother-in-law. I have nightmares just thinking about what might have been, and I'm even more paranoid now about checking the labels on everything when she's with us, or if I make anything for her.

Anyway, because I couldnt use the exotic dried fruit, I checked to see if any of the regular sultanas or raisins could take their place. Nope. Same stupid warning on those packages as well. Luckily, there was a bag of dried currants which, amazingly, believe it or not, only contained dried currants! *gasp* Talk about Christmas miracles!



So that's why the fruit cake became a currant cake - and it was a lovely one. The amount of lemon juice used in the recipe gave a sharp flavour to the sweetness of the currants, adding zing to every bite. The currants sank to the bottom of the cake, but that didnt matter one whit, it made a lovely mouthful at the end! (It reminded me of a Famous Five adventure - cant remember which one - in which Dick says that he loves fruit cake where the fruit has all sunk to the bottom, making for a fruity last mouthful. For some reason that stuck in my head - sorry, I just HAD to mention it, irrelevant though it is!)

Pete's mother loved the cake, and so did I. So did Pete. Unfortunately for non-egg-eating folks, I'm afraid this required two eggs. The cake didnt rise much even with the two eggs and 1 tsp baking powder, so I doubt it would be possible to make it eggless. All I can say is, the cake was simple, and lovely! I'm almost tempted to give up Christmas fruitcakes, and I probably would too, but for Pete's howl of distress at the very thought. Did I mention he just lurrves fruitcake?

Recipe for: Polenta currant cake



Ingredients:

5 tbsp butter
1/3 cup + 1 tbsp caster sugar
2 eggs, beaten
4 tbsp self-raising flour
1/2 cup polenta or cornmeal
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup currants
grated rind of one lemon
4 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp milk

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Grease a 7" round cake tin with Pam (or use butter) and line the base with baking parchment.

2. Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and whisk together till light and fluffy.



3. Then whisk in the beaten eggs, a little at a time, whisking thoroughly after each addition.



3. Gently fold the flour, baking powder and polenta into the mixture until thoroughly blended.

4. Stir in the currants, grated lemon rind, lemon juice and milk.



5. Spoon the mixture into the cake tin and level the surface.



6. Bake in a preheated oven until the cake is golden on top, and a fine metal skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.



7. Leave the cake to cool in the tin before cutting.

Eggless fruit cake

After a long time I felt like baking something, and since Pete likes fruit cakes a lot, I decided I would try a new recipe - an eggless one because my mother was coming here (just for a day en route to Chennai). As with any cake recipe I try for the first time, no matter how simple it looks, I was a bit apprehensive about how the cake would turn out, given that it didnt involve eggs. (I've had a few disasters with eggless cakes, as regular readers might know!)

Luckily, fruitcakes are fairly forgiving in the sense that they dont have to be light and airy - a little denseness can be overlooked. But only a little. If a fruitcake feels heavy like a brick and looks like and overdone brick, my suggestion would be not to eat it, but to use it in some kind of construction - perhaps as part of the foundations if you're building a house. Or you could treat it as "dwarf bread", that wonderful baked item that makes its appearance in Terry Pratchett's books - dwarf bread is edible - just - and can be used as emergency rations as it lasts forever... but it is also hard enough to be used as a deadly weapon. Some fruitcakes I've eaten over the years could well have evolved from the Discworld's original dwarf bread!

However, to get back to my cake, this was a keeper of a recipe! The cake was moist and nicely chewy, with a little crunch from the addition of roughly chopped brazil nuts (because my pecans had gone rancid, unfortunately. I hate when that happens.) It was lovely, and the texture and flavour has only become better in the three days since I baked it. Plus, as an added bonus, it's easy to make.

I'll have to admit one thing, though... the cake isnt photogenic, especially when cut into chunks. It's so VERY knobbly and bulging in all directions with fruit and nuts that I just couldnt take a pretty picture of it. I tried and tried but finally had to settle for the piece as it was - bulge, bumps, warts and all. Either that or not post a photo at all, which is unthinkable except in the direst of situations (viz, if there isnt a photo at ALL! *gasp*).



So please, dear readers, dont judge a cake by its outer appearance. Dont bring it out for guests, if you're the kind who only showcases the prettiest and bestest of your attempts in company. But DO try a piece of the cake with a cup of coffee at home, share it with your uncritical loved ones, shove it at family and friends... but do, do, DO try it! It's a pretty gorgeous cake!

The original recipe was apparently taken from a vegetarian cookbook and it says that to make this cake completely vegan, you can substitute the butter with vegan margarine.

Recipe for: Eggless fruit cake



Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
3/4 tsp mixed spice
2/3 cup margarine
3/4 cup soft brown sugar
3 cups dried fruit (I used sultanas and currants)
1/4 cup chopped brazil nuts
1 cup + 2 tbsp water
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Method:

1. Grease a 7" square or round tin and line with greaseproof paper to come an inch above sides of the tin. Spray lightly with Pam.

2. Sift together flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and mixed spice.

3. Rub in margarine, then mix in brown sugar.

4. Stir the fruit and nuts into the mixture.



5. Make a hollow in the centre of the mixture, pour in the water, and stir in lightly.



6. Warm 2 tbsp water slightly and pour over the bicarbonate of soda, then stir it thoroughly into the mixture (but dont beat).

7. Turn mixture into prepared tin.



8. Bake cake at 180°C for an hour or till it is cooked.



Leave in the tin for 10-15 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack. Cut into pieces when cool.