Sugar-crusted bara brith
By Jane Hornby
Bara brith (literally ‘speckled bread’) is a tea-time classic, and it seems that almost every Welsh town and every family has their own recipe
-
Prep:15 mins
Cook:1 hrs 15 mins
Plus overnight soaking - Serves 12
- Easy
Nutrition per serving
-
kcal 397
-
fat 9g
-
saturates 5g
-
carbs 79g
-
sugars 50g
-
fibre 2g
-
protein 6g
-
salt 0.58g
Ingredients
- 400g/14oz luxury mixed fruit
- 75g pack dried cranberries
- mug hot strong black tea
- 100g butter, plus extra for greasing
- 2 heaped tbsp orange marmalade
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 450g self-raising flour - try a mix of wholemeal and white
- 175g light soft brown sugar
- 1 tsp each ground cinnamon and ground ginger
- 4 tbsp milk
- 50g crushed sugar cubes or granulated sugar, to decorate
Method
Mix together the dried fruit and cranberries in a large bowl, then pour the hot tea over. Cover with cling film and leave to soak overnight.
Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Butter and line the bottom of a 900g/2lb loaf tin with baking parchment. Melt butter and marmalade together in a pan. Leave to cool for 5 mins, then beat in the eggs. Drain any excess tea from the fruit. Mix the flour, sugar and spices together, then stir in the fruit, butter mix and milk until evenly combined. The batter should softly drop from the spoon – add more milk if needed.
Spoon into the tin and level the top. Sprinkle with the crushed sugar and bake for 1-1¼ hrs until dark golden and a skewer inserted comes out clean. Cover loosely with foil if it starts to over-colour before the middle is cooked. Leave to cool completely in the tin and serve sliced.
