Adam Liaw's Irish Tea Cake

A few weeks ago, Adam Liaw published a recipe for Irish Tea Cake in the local newspaper.  It looked just the ticket to me - rich, tea soaked dried fruit, packed into a glossy cake.  I definitely had to make it! 

I can say without a doubt that this recipe lived up to its promise.  The cake was moist, flavoursome and choc o'block with delicious, tea soaked dried fruit. I used English Breakfast Tea as opposed to Irish Breakfast Tea to soak my fruit (does this make my cake an English Tea Cake?), and subbed the cranberries for dried figs. Fascinatingly, there is no butter or oil in the cake itself.  

I absolutely adored this cake.  It doesn't really need butter, although that is how it is traditionally served.

As Molly Meldrum would say, do yourself a favour and make this cake!!

You will need:

1 black tea bag

1/2 cup sultanas

1/2 cup prunes, roughly chopped

1/2 cup dried apricots, roughly chopped

1/2 cup dried figs, roughly chopped

225g plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

150g brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/4 cup white sugar

Brew the tea in 1 1/2 cups of boiling water and pour over the dried fruits.  Allow to steep for a couple of hours.

Preheat your oven to 170 degrees Celsius and grease and line a 30cm loaf tin.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder and spices.  Drain the liquid from the fruit (reserving it for later), and fold the egg and the fruit through the dry ingredients.  Add some of the fruit liquid as necessary to make a pourable batter.

Transfer the cake batter into the prepared loaf tin and bake in the preheated oven for 75 minutes or until cooked through when tested.

In the meantime, combine the white sugar with 1/4 cup of the reserved fruit liquid (or 1/4 cup of water if you have no more fruit liquid left) in a small saucepan.  Bring to a simmer and simmer until the sugar dissolves, then remove from the heat and allow to cool completely.

After removing the baked cake from the oven, brush the top of the cake with the sugar syrup  while the cake is still hot.

Once the cake has cooled completely, unmould from the tin and slice and serve (with butter if desired).