Tea Loaf

My husband and I are typical Scots. We like sweet things to eat. My husband is particularly fond of home made cakes, so I bake a lot. One of his favourites is tea loaf. It is very easy to do, tastes good and, more so, can't go wrong. My kind of baking! You can add, change a lot of the ingredients, and it doesn't affect the loaf. I will add notes after the recipe, so keep reading! My baking cup that I use for this recipe is not quite as big as an American cup (I checked!), but I don't think it will make a difference!

Ingredients

3 cups dried fruit (* see below)

2 cups brown sugar(*)

2 cups strong tea (steep 3 tea bags in boiling water and give it a good stir till strong!)

Leave the above ingredients to steep overnight.

Next day add -

4 cups self-raising flour

2 beaten eggs.

Mix all ingredients together and divide between 2 x 2lb greased and lined (bottom only) loaf tins. I cook my loaves on the top shelf of the oven @ 150 degF for 45 mins +. I have a very hot oven and it depends how sloppy the mixture is, so you might need to cook it longer or less. The loaves come out with a crusty top, but if they are put in a tin, they become soft overnight. (We like the crusty top)

*Dried Fruit - you can have a mixture of currants, raisins, sultanas. My favourite is a mix of raisins and jumbo raisins. You can also add up to half a cup extra of sweetened cranberries, glace pineapple or glace mixed peel. If you do this, take out about 2 tablespoons of sugar, as this would make it terribly sweet.

*Sugar - Sugar can be dark brown, medium, light, white, or any combination of what you have in the house. The dark is our favourite.

If you are in a panic, you can put the first three ingredients in the microwave and cook for a few minutes, cool the mix and then proceed with the rest of the recipe. This does not produce such a tasty cake. You will notice in the picture, that there is only half a loaf left! I only had one slice! Who ate the rest??

Any questions, feel free to leave a comment with email address, or email me direct.

Hope you enjoy!

tich

Potato Cakes

Potato Cake recipe as promised!

• 7-8 oz mashed potatoes
• 4 oz self raising flour
• 2 oz butter

Boil potatoes until soft and no more. (If you make them too soft you will have soggy potato cakes!) Rub butter into flour, until it resembles bread crumbs. Add potatoes to flour mix and mash well with a fork. Form the mix into flat cakes with your hand. Fry in olive oil or butter till brown on both sides.

We had these for lunch with fried eggs, fresh laid from our two hens! Absolutely delicious. Another favourite is mashed potatoes spread out in a pan to form a large potato cake. This is fried on both sides, with the minimum of oil, till it is crusty on both sides. My stepfather's mother came from the Highlands, and she called this a shevock (don't know spelling!) We fight over the crusty bits!

Enjoy!

tich