A summery fruit loaf

Summer has arrived with some hot days for us - the humidity is high & it is rather draining. 

Being the weekend, we felt like something with our tea, but in my view, it is too hot for cakes. However, tea loaves are much lighter & they give you that energy hit when you need it. 

I really just winged it - this is how I did it ... 

In a bowl combine

about 1.5 - 2 cups raisins,  currants, cherries, cranberries etc - whatever you have to hand that you enjoy. 

Pour boiling water over a large mug of 2 bags of peach &  orange tea (with citrusy baobab) or whatever tea you have to hand. 

Pour over the fruit & leave to cool so the fruit can plump up. 

I left it for about 20 minutes but you can leave it overnight or for a few hours for really plump fruit.

I mixed 200 g of brown sugar with 200g of butter (optional), then added the fruit & the tea liquid to the bowl, mixed it up (mainly to break up the dates) then added about 300g of self raising flour & 1 egg.  I mixed it all briefly. 

This was placed in a lined loaf tin & baked at 160-170 C fan for 1 hour or until a knife came out of the centre cleanly. 

The loaf cooling safely away from all the things that buzz about in summer ... 

I think the next one will have lemon or orange zest in it for a zingy summer taste. There is some variation in online recipes about adding butter to the recipe - without is obviously healthier but I have done it both ways & both work. 

It does need to cool before slicing - I was impatient & sliced some which crumbled a bit as it was still hot ... 

Definitely better option to cake in hot weather with an ice cold juice. 

What is cooling  on your baking rack at the moment? Tell all ... 

Dee 👩‍🍳🍞🍇🍊