Thursday, February 24, 2011

CHOCOLATE TEA BRACK



You know the way that sometimes a recipe just comes to you - you wonder if x and y would be a good combination, throw a recipe together and bing bang boosh - perfection, it just works like magic, the work of the cake fairies.  Well this recipe wasn't like that at all !!!!!!!!!!!  It took a number of attempts to get it right, although all edible (Brownieville Man enjoyed the judging process) they just weren't wonderful, not blog worthy.  I think that the main problem was that two of the ingredients (tea and dried fruit) are two of the few foods/drinks that I don't really like.  But I battled on, and have been assured that this is a good one - and nice and easy too.

Choclette over at Chocolate Log Blog asked us to come up with something delicious which contains both chocolate and tea for this month's We Should Cocoa challenge.  Originally I thought I might use a fruit tea (which I love) but then thought that might be cheating (and that would never do!) so I decided that I would go with ordinary everyday tea (I use Barry's tea because my Mother told me that it was the best in the world (!) and I've bought it ever since!).

This is a tea brack (tea bread) with a pleasant chocolaty back taste, using the cocoa almost as a spice rather than a full on flavour (one of the mistakes of an earlier edition) and is perfect for an after dinner treat with a nice cup of tea, or an afternoon tea, or a morning coffee .... versatile cake!

It is worthwhile soaking the fruit for 24 hours, and if you have any dried fruit lurking in your cupboards from Christmas, this brack would be a perfect way to use it, as the long soak will revive it to plump moistness.  The choice of fruit is totally up to you, I have used sultanas, raisins, figs, and cranberries all to good effect.



Tea Brack with Cocoa


150g           soft brown sugar
300 ml        strong hot tea
400g           dried fruit (I recommend a combination of sultanas, raisins and cranberries)
50 ml          orange liqueur (or brandy) or use extra tea.
150g           wholemeal flour
75g             white flour
2 tbsp          cocoa powder, sifted
1.5 tsp        baking powder
1                 large egg
                                                                                                 
the day before

Add the sugar to the hot tea and stir until dissolved.    
Add the fruit and alcohol and leave to soak for about 24 hours.

when ready to bake

Preheat oven to 170 C
Line a large loaf tin with parchment paper

Add the flours, sifted cocoa, baking powder and the beaten egg to the fruit mixture, and mix well.
Pour this mixture into the prepared tin.
Bake for about 1 hour, test before this time with a skewer, it should come out clean.
Allow to cool in the tin for about 15 minutes.
Then remove to cool totally on a wire rack.




The publishers of a new foodie magazine Baked and Delicious have contacted me to ask if I would let you know about their new publication - looks good to me!

36 comments:

Flavia Galasso said...

WOW....that's wonderful!!

Manu said...

Delicious!!! A cake with tea!LOL

Julie said...

Sounds delightful...I love that it's called brack :)

Jacqueline Meldrum said...

What a great idea. I don't like tea, but I actually fancy trying this :)

La Bella Cooks said...

This sounds delicious as I love tea and of course chocolate. Good idea to use brandy or an orange liqueur as well.

Anonymous said...

This is a great idea! Great post!

Unknown said...

I love this recipe, how invetive and great on you for sticking to it.

cupcakegirl said...

Wonderful - Thanks for sharing! I did consider making something with fruit tea but as usual I was my disorganised self and didn't get round to it.

joanne Murphy said...

Yummy, would love some of this right now!

Zoe said...

Look like a good recipe to me. The soaking of dried fruits is also considered a chore for me too but the thought of having this cake without no additional fat is worthwhile doing the soaking.

Suelle said...

It's a lovely idea to use the chocolate as a minor flavour for this month's 'We Should Cocoa' challenge.

Gloria Baker said...

This cake is absolutely nice and yummy! gloria

Anonymous said...

Sounds delish! I'm not a raisin & sultana fan either, but I think I might just give this a go :)
Sheelagh

. said...

Tea and chocolate - that is a tricky combo! End result looks great, Glad you succeeded - its handy having hubby to eat the first attemts though! :)

Chele said...

That looks fab and I love the combo of flavours. Tea was certainly a tough challenge this month and its been great to see all the different enteries roll in. Thanks for taking part Hun ;0)

Rhyleysgranny said...

Well done. Your brack looks smashing. I am not a fan of dried fruit but I do like cranberries. Figs? Hmmmmm. Haven't tried that

Rose H (UK) said...

I often make tea bread as it's a family favourite, but I've never thought of adding cocoa...I can feel a baking session coming on this weekend!

Abitofafoodie said...

What a great combination. This reminds me of bara brith (Welsh 'speckled bread' which involves steeping the fruit in tea) but the addition of cocoa adds another dimension.

Unknown said...

this looks lovely... can't believe you dont like dried fruit... I love stuff like this... bet it would taste good with butter spread all over each slice!... I know what you mea about cocoa... sometimes if you use too much it can taste burnt almost?

Sugar Plum Cupcake said...

I love tea cake and the coco idea is ingenious!!

<3

Susan Lindquist said...

I have never had a tea cake ... I think we call these types of recipes quick breads in the US ... whatever, I love the word 'brack' ... and I love the idea of the bit of cocoa used 'as a spice' ... this is a recipe to be played with! I am imagining dried apricots and candied orange peel with golden sultanas ... mmm!!

Anonymous said...

lovely, lovely. I thought about chocolate bara brith but time overtook me. I will give this recipe a go.

Caroline said...

That looks like a lovely tea bread recipe - love the combo of dried fruit that you've chosen. The idea of using the cocoa as a back note is really good - I didn't enter this challenge as I just couldn't think of a way of combining the two flavours successfully. Well done you!

Victor said...

Looks such a great recipe. I'll give this a try!

Dharm said...

This looks really great! Glad I found your blog too!

Anonymous said...

I love fruit cake and this cakes seems to have a lot of my favorites, tea, cocoa, fruit and liquor. It's gotta be good!!!!

teresa said...

i've never had anything like this, but it looks amazing!

Viv said...

hah fruit tea would've been interesting too!

looks like a fruit loaf with chocolate! yum! :)

Beth said...

Congratulations on sticking with it! There's nothing like making a good recipe even better.

BillG said...

Yum, this looks great! I like the idea of using the cocoa more as a spice than the main flavor.

chow and chatter said...

wow what a heavenly combo :-) he he pleased your hubby makes good tea thats important

Nessa Robins said...

I love a slice of homemade tea brack with a cuppa and this sounds like a lovely recipe!

Angela said...

Yum, yum! That would be ever so nice for breakfast in the morning.

Maria♥ said...

What a wonderful variation on tea brack!

Maria
x

Ocean Breezes and Country Sneezes said...

This looks delicious! What a wonderful dessert for after dinner with a cup of tea!

Baking Addict said...

Great idea. Well done for persevering even though you don't like tea and dried fruit.