Tea Loaf

Mum used to make tea loaf when I was a child and I loved it, but it has taken me thirty four years as a vegan, to make a vegan version.   I used this BBC Good Food recipe, although I tweaked it a little, omitting the egg and zest as I had no oranges and used gluten free flour, but it worked out great.

340 g dried fruit ( I used raisins, dates and apricots)

2 Earl Grey teabags

250 g gluten free self raising flour (I used Doves Farm)

200 g caster sugar

120 g oat yogurt

Margarine

Pre-heat the oven to 180°.

Put the teabags into a jug with 300 ml of boiling water and leave to steep until the tea is nice and strong.

Put the dried fruit into a bowl and cover with the tea and leave to sit for at least six hours, or ideally overnight to allow the fruit to soak up the tea flavours.

Drain the fruit and put into a bowl, add the flour, sugar and yogurt and mix well until thoroughly combined and the fruit is evenly distributed.

I would normally use a loaf tin, but only had a cake tin, so I lined the bottom with parchment paper, greasing both the paper and sides with margarine.   I poured the cake mixture in and tamped the tin to ensure the mixture was evenly spread.

Bake for an hour, then test if the cake is cooked by piecing with a skewer, if it comes out clean its ready, if not return to the oven for another ten minutes and test again.

The tea loaf is lovely as it is, although even nicer spread with margarine and is perfect for when we go walking with a nice cup of tea.