Irish Tea Brack
Growing up in Ireland one of my many favorite foods was fruit cake. At Halloween we had a fruit cake called barm brack with a ring in. The ring was meant to tell the finder that they would one day marry. At 7 years old I never had any doubt that I was going to marry a prince anyway. This tea Brack made with tea is popular all year round it is delicious. After a visit to Ireland this summer I committed to mastering this delicious cake when I got back to the States. I hunted for a recipe and found this great recipe on a site called eating for Ireland. The author is called Becks, and I love the blog because it is simple and the recipes are quite easy to follow. So, thanks Becks and here is my version. I stuck mostly to the original recipe.
Ingredients:
- 350 grams mixed fruit. (I buy my fruit from Amazon and use the different fruits for several recipes}
- 300mls hot tea (I use leaf tea, I make it strong then strain it, you can also add some brandy or whiskey just reduce the tea by the amount of alcohol but do not use more than 30mls of alcohol)
- Fifty grams of soft brown sugar
- Zest of one orange use the fine side of the grater
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- One large egg
- 225g self-rising flour with ½ tsp of all spice (hard to get in the US, I get mine from you guessed it Amazon) and 1 tsp mixed spice mixed sifted together.
Method:
- Mix the fruit and sugar in the bowl and then add the hot tea.
- Add the orange zest and ground cloves, mix well cover and soak overnight






Next Day
- Heat the oven to 350F.
- Grease the baking tin or use a greaseproof liner.
- Stir the soaked fruit, add the egg and mix (no need for a stand mixer)
- Add half the flour and fold in. Make sure the flour is blended. Then add the other ½. Mix well!
Baking your tea Brack
- This mixture will give you two 1 lb. loafs or one 2 lb. loaf. Personally, I like the 2 lb. loaf but if you do not have a house full of cake lovers you may want to divide between to 1 lb. pans. I made the 2 lb. loaf the first time and the two 1l b loafs the second time to give one to a sick friend.
- Bake the 2 lb. loaf in the center of the oven at 350F for 15 mins then reduce the heat to 320F and bake fo a further 45-50 mins. Check the bake with a metal skewer and if your skewer is dry the cake is cooked if you need it bake for a further 10-15 minutes but be careful not to overbake as you will dry out your cake. I did need this for my oven but yours may be different. My bake was not as good with the 1 lb. tins. I did 10 minutes at 350 and 20 mins at 320. This was not enough, and I ended up putting the cakes back for another 25 min which meant I had to cook the 1lb cakes for the same amount of time as the 2 lb. cake. So, time the bake and check for doneness after the required time but be prepared to cook for longer if not ready.
- Remove the loafs from the tins and cool I did one thing differently to the Becks recipe. I glazed the loafs with apricot glaze.
Apricot Glaze:
- Heat a tablespoon of apricot jam with a little drop of water. Do not overheat. When the mixture is syrupy brush the top of the loaves with glaze.
- Enjoy with some butter and a nice cup of Barry’s tea.
Ingredients from Amazon
(I recieve a small commision on any purchases made through these links which helps pay for the maintenance of my blog)
Here is a link to the fruits I buy from Amazon. I do not buy actual mixed fruits I prefer to buy the individual fruits and mix my own plus use different fruits for other recipes.
Currants, Sultanas (golden raisins) Raisins, Cherries


