I was looking for something a bit different to the cakes I normally make (family classics like Victoria Sandwich, chocolate cake and lemon drizzle) so asked some lovely Everything Everhot Facebook followers for their suggestions. Thank you to Jacqui Smith for her suggestion of a tea cake made with rooibus tea. I didn’t have any leaves but I did have some Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Coconut Rooibus Infusion Teabags so I used those. I also added some craisins and cardamom to the original recipe but the resulting Rooibus tea loaf was delicious. I have eaten it single-handedly.
Ingredients
- 4 rooibos tea bags (or any strong tea) I used Coconut rooibus infusion teabags from Sainsburys Taste the Difference
- 400g pack mixed dried fruit
- 100g Craisins (dried cranberries)
- 6 cardamom seeds, ground in a pestle and mortar
- 125g light brown sugar
- 250g self-raising flour
- ½ tsp mixed spice
- 1 medium egg, beaten
- butter, to serve
Method
- Grease and line a 1kg loaf tin.
- Put the tea bags in a large bowl and pour 300ml boiling water over them. Leave for a good 10 minutes to infuse. Squeeze them out and throw them away, then mix the fruit into the tea. Leave the mixture to soak for at least 2 hours (or overnight would be ideal).
- Next stir in the sugar, flour, spices and egg into the fruit and mix well. Spoon into the loaf tin and level the top. Bake in the top oven at around 180º for about an 1 hour, or until risen and firm to the touch. My top oven was on 220ºC and bottom at 100ºC so i cooked in top for about 20 minutes and transferred to the bottom for another 40 minutes. Once cooked remove from oven and cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out to cool on a wire rack.
- Wrap in greaseproof paper and keep for two days to keep fresh before slicing (if you can resist it!), as this improves the flavour. To serve, cut into thick slices and spread with butter. It keeps well wrapped and in an airtight container.