Tea Loaf – Frugal Recipe

I hadn’t even heard of tea loaf before I met my (now) husband, but it gets made quite often in our house now. It is a simple recipe with doesn’t contain any fat at all so it would be good as a low fat pudding. There is quite a bit of sugar though! It is lovely with a cup of tea and a cuppa, as a treat in the afternoon. I love having something like this in, plus I know exactly what has gone into the cake. Bonus.

 

Ingredients:

– 8 oz sultanas

– 4 oz raisins

– 4 oz currants

– 6 oz Demerara sugar

– 1/4 pint hot tea

– 1 medium egg

– 8 oz self-raising flour

 

 

Method:

• Put the sultanas, raisins, currants, sugar and hot tea in a bowl.
• Mix well and then cover and leave overnight.
• Heat the oven to 160C/325F/Gas Mark 3, then grease and line the base of a 2 lb loaf tin.
• Add the egg, bust well and then stir in the flour. Make sure it’s thoroughly combined. P
• lace the mixture into the tin and bake for about 90 minutes until firm.

 

NB – always use hot tea so the sugar dissolves and the dried fruit swells more easily.

 

 

The end result is a dark, dense loaf which cuts like a loaf of bread. My husband likes this cut in thick slices with butter on them – as there’s no fat in the loaf itself. I prefer it this as is, but try it both ways. A very simple, tasty loaf to bake, I really recommend you try this! It can go a bit dark on the top, as the picture shows. You could cover your loaf tin with a bit of foil if you don’t want it to be so dark 🙂