Yorkshire Tea Cup Loaf

This week I have been inspired by our new Clandestine Cake Club sponsor, Yorkshire Tea. When the news was announced, every man and his dog seemed to agree that they make a cracking cuppa! I like my tea strong with a tiny bit of milk and no sugar; pretty much the same colour as this cake actually, although at work it's described as a 'David Dickinson'.

So this week's mid-week bake had to be some sort of tea loaf. Tea and cake are the perfect partners, so I thought I'd spruce up a traditional recipe with our favourite brew and a little spice. I've called this recipe a tea cup loaf because it uses a tea cup to measure! This is a really simple recipe and can be made with little effort. You don't even need to soak the fruit (avoids the death stare from the tea loaf purists...). The result is a large, moist loaf which is bob on with a nice cup of Yorkshire Tea.

Ingredients

• 1 teacup of tea - left to cool
• 125g unsalted butter - cubed
• 1 teacup of good quality mixed fruit 
• 1 teacup of large sultanas
• 1 teacup of dark brown sugar
• 2 teacups of self raising flour
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Method

1. Add the tea, butter, fruit and sugar to a large, heavy saucepan and mix on a low temperature until everything has melted.
2. Turn the heat up to medium and bring to the boil. Simmer gently for 3 minutes.
3. Put to one side to cool off.
4. Grease and line a 2lb/900g loaf tin - this gives you something to do whilst the fruit mix is cooling!
5. Sift the flour, spices and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl.
6. Pour in the warm fruit mix and mix until there is no flour visible.
7. Pour into the prepared loaf tin and bake on gas 4/180 C for 1 hour.
8. You'll know it's done when a skewer comes out clean. 
9. Leave it on a wire rack for ten minutes before turning ut tof the tin. Allow to cool before eating (this stops utter cake carnage - they are a bit crumbly warm!)

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