emb123
21-Dec-06, 21:35
Bara Brith
1 lb self-raising flour
1 lb mixed dried fruit
2 tablespoons warm marmalade
1 egg (beaten)
6 ounces brown sugar
1/2 pint warm strained tea
1 teaspoon ground mixed spice
Place the fruit, sugar and warm tea in a large bowl and soak overnight.
next day or approx 10 hours later:
Preheat the oven to 180 Celcius / 350 Fahrenheit
Beat the egg in a small bowl
Grease and flour a 3lb loaf tin or deep 8" cake tin
Sieve the flour and mixed spice, and warm the marmalade.
Add the flour, warm marmalade and egg to the soaked fruit.
Mix well but quickly as the mixture starts to rise immediately.
Pour the mixture into the greased baking tin.
Bake for 80 to 90 minutes on 180 Celcius / 350 Fahrenheit (gas mark 4) (reduce heat by 20 Celcius if using fan assisted oven)
Cool on wire rack. (e.g. the rack in a grill pan)
Serve sliced with or without butter.
Tastes an awful lot like Christmas cake, in a fraction of the time.
Personally I think the amount of liquid is slighty too much so I add a little but more dried fruit to compensate (basically I use the whole 500g pack), and for my taste the quantity of sugar in this traditional recipe is a lot too much (it was almost giving me toothache as I was eating it) so I make it with just a whisker over 5.5 ounces of brown sugar).
It's much better a few days after baking, even a week later.
(oh, I also add about a dozen glace cherries with the fruit for soaking - not authentic but I like them.)
-----
This exact same recipe (minus the marmalade) is described on the www as Barm Brack - a traditional Irish recipe. :)
1 lb self-raising flour
1 lb mixed dried fruit
2 tablespoons warm marmalade
1 egg (beaten)
6 ounces brown sugar
1/2 pint warm strained tea
1 teaspoon ground mixed spice
Place the fruit, sugar and warm tea in a large bowl and soak overnight.
next day or approx 10 hours later:
Preheat the oven to 180 Celcius / 350 Fahrenheit
Beat the egg in a small bowl
Grease and flour a 3lb loaf tin or deep 8" cake tin
Sieve the flour and mixed spice, and warm the marmalade.
Add the flour, warm marmalade and egg to the soaked fruit.
Mix well but quickly as the mixture starts to rise immediately.
Pour the mixture into the greased baking tin.
Bake for 80 to 90 minutes on 180 Celcius / 350 Fahrenheit (gas mark 4) (reduce heat by 20 Celcius if using fan assisted oven)
Cool on wire rack. (e.g. the rack in a grill pan)
Serve sliced with or without butter.
Tastes an awful lot like Christmas cake, in a fraction of the time.
Personally I think the amount of liquid is slighty too much so I add a little but more dried fruit to compensate (basically I use the whole 500g pack), and for my taste the quantity of sugar in this traditional recipe is a lot too much (it was almost giving me toothache as I was eating it) so I make it with just a whisker over 5.5 ounces of brown sugar).
It's much better a few days after baking, even a week later.
(oh, I also add about a dozen glace cherries with the fruit for soaking - not authentic but I like them.)
-----
This exact same recipe (minus the marmalade) is described on the www as Barm Brack - a traditional Irish recipe. :)