Cinnamon Cherry Tea Bread

5 from 1 vote

Richly fruited, lip-smackingly tangy and delightfully light. This Cinnamon Cherry Tea Bread needs no fancy adornments. It's easy to make and is sure to please even the choosiest of cake connoisseurs.

Prep Time15

Cook Time1

Steeping time2

Total Time3 15

Course: Baking, Cake

Cuisine: British, English

Servings:

Calories: 242kcal

Author: Jane Coupland

Ingredients

175 g Dried cherries
125 g Raisins
30 g Dried apricots
2 Tea bag (I used Ceylon)
275 ml Just boiled water
125 g Light muscovado sugar
3 tablespoons Honey
2 Large eggs
300 g plain (all purpose) flour
2 ½ teaspoons Baking powder
2 teaspoons Ground cinnamon
Zest of 1 orange

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Chop the apricots roughly then put all of the dried fruits and the tea bags into a large bowl. Pour the just-boiled water on top and leave to soak for 2 hours (or overnight). Remove the tea bags and discard
Pre-heat the oven to 160°C/ 310°F and line a 2 LB loaf tin with baking parchment
Put the sugar, honey and eggs into a large bowl and mix, with electric beaters, until pale and thick (the consistency of fairly thick custard). This will take around 5 minutes
Measure out the flour, baking powder and cinnamon into a bowl. Stir to combine, then sieve half into the batter and fold in
Mix the dried fruit, soaking liquid and the orange zest into the batter
Finally, sieve in the remaining flour and fold through until the flour has been fully incorporated
Spoon into the baking tin and bake for 50-60 minutes in the oven. The tea loaf is cooked when a skewer coming out clean. (after 45 minutes cover the top of the cake with foil if you think it might burn but the cake needs longer)
Allow to cool completely in the tin

Notes

Don't skimp on the soaking time for the fruit. The longer you can leave it, the better as the fruit will keep on absorbing the tea as it sits in it, making the final bake all the softer and better for it
And keep on beating the eggs, sugar and honey together for a good 5 minutes to enable the mixture to thicken and incorporate some air
Don't forget to line the baking tin to avoid the cake getting astuck in the pan
If you can't get hold of dried cherries use sultanas instead

Storage Instructions

Wrap this tea bread up in foil or parchment for 24 hours (once cold) to let the flavours fully develop before slicing into it. From this point, it will stay fresh for up to 3 days if wrapped well and stored at room temperature.

Alternatively, freeze the entire loaf or slices for up to 2 months.

Serving Suggestions

Any fruit loaf, including this cinnamon & cherry tea bread, is heavenly served just as it is. There is absolutely no need for a glaze or icing. However, a generous slick of lightly salted butter elevates this culinary delight even further (I will never pass up the chance for butter). Try serving it with a slice of English cheese sometimes too. You'll be surprised how well the combination pairs up.

Nutrition