Bara Brith

Welsh Fruit Cake – ‘Bara’ meaning bread and ‘Brith’ meaning speckled. This is the national fruit loaf of Wales. The history to this speckled bread is said to originate from that of a Welsh cook who sprinkled some dried fruit and spice into a coarse meal dough. This simple addition transformed a plain piece of dough into a moist, well flavoured and visually appealing fruit bread.

Ingredients:
350g Mixed Fruit
500ml strong tea
Zest of 1 lemon
2ml ground cinnamon
2ml ground ginger
1ml ground nutmeg
1ml ground allspice
285g. Self-Rising Flour
225g. light Muscovado Sugar
1 Egg, Beaten

Method:

Preheat the oven to 150C.

Measure fruit into a bowl. Pour over hot tea. Leave overnight.
Strain the fruit, reserving the liquid.

Stir lemon zest, spices, flour, sugar and egg into the fruit, mix well.

Add the reserved liquid until the batter is a soft dropping consistency.
Lightly grease a large loaf pan. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top of the batter level.

Bake for 1½ to 1¾ hours, until well risen and firm to the touch.
Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes before turning onto a wire rack. Leave to cool completely.