← Nouns Cooking · British & Irish

Ingredients

• 300 g Mixed dried fruit
• 175 g light muscovado sugar
• 250 ml hot, strong black tea
• 1 orange, zested (optional)
• 350 g Self-raising flour
• 2 tsp Mixed spice
• 1 Eggs, beaten
• 10 g butter, for the tin and to serve

Method

1. Put the dried fruit, sugar and orange zest in a bowl and pour over the hot tea. Stir, cover and leave to soak for 8 hours or overnight.
2. Heat the oven to 170°C (150°C fan, 340°F). Butter a 900 g loaf tin and line it with baking paper.
3. Stir the flour, mixed spice and egg into the soaked fruit and its liquid until thoroughly combined with no dry pockets.
4. Spoon into the tin and level the top. Bake for 1 hour, then test with a skewer: it should come out clean. If not, give it 10–15 min more, covering the top with foil if it is browning too fast.
5. Cool in the tin for 10 min, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely. Serve in slices, spread with butter.

Tips

• It tastes even better a day or two after baking; wrapped well, it keeps for about a week.
• Try Earl Grey tea for a fragrant, citrussy version.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

BBC Good Food BBC Food Olive Magazine