Easy Irish Tea Brack Recipe (Fruit Loaf Cake)

Welcome to my delicious Irish tea brack recipe! This is a moist and fruity cake that's bursting with flavour from tea-soaked dried fruit and zesty orange. It's perfect with a nice cup of tea, whether you're from Ireland or anywhere else in the world.

Plus, I'll show you how to make it gluten-free if you need to, and share some tips and tricks to avoid common mistakes. Trust me, you'll love this easy and satisfying tea loaf!

This fruit tea loaf is a traditional Irish recipe that was very popular during the war when eggs and butter were scarce.

It's essentially an everyday fruit cake made with pantry ingredients such as dried fruit, hot tea, flour, sugar and spices that has a long shelf life and gets better with age.

Some people like to wait a week before slicing and enjoy it with a little butter, or frying it in a pan for a crispy treat.

Another occasion to enjoy this cake is Halloween, where people put some hidden objects in the batter to see see what they reveal about your future.

Jump to:

• ✔️ Why You'll Love This Recipe
• 🛒 Ingredient Notes
• 📋 Instructions
• 👩‍🍳 Substitutions
• ⚖️ Variations
• 🔪 Equipment
• ❄️ Storage
• 💡Pro Tips
• 🍽️ Serving Suggestions
• ❓ FAQ
• ➕More Dried Mixed Fruit Recipes
• ➕ More Dessert Recipes
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

✔️ Why You'll Love This Recipe

• Has a long shelf life and gets better with age
• Can be made as a gluten-free easy fruit bread recipe
• Simpler than using an instant yeast mixture to make a bread dough
• A great recipe that's easy to make with simple ingredients
• Fun and festive at Halloween or the Christmas holiday season

🛒 Ingredient Notes

Please see the printable recipe card with exact ingredient quantities, preparation instructions and nutritional information at the bottom of this post.

• Strong Irish black tea - as this is Irish tea brack, I brew two tea bags of Thompson's Irish breakfast blend, or you could opt for Barry's, Bewley's, Lyons or Cupán Tae. Alternatively, for an English fruit loaf, use Yorkshire tea, etc. Note: I only leave it for a few minutes, but you could leave it to go cold before soaking the dried fruit the night before. Note: you could also replace some tea for 1 tablespoon of Irish whiskey!
  
• Orange zest and juice - we think the best tea brack recipes are ones with orange zest and the juice from an orange, or use lime juice. IF you are adding these, I recommend:
  - brewing half the tea first for a few minutes,
  - topping up with orange juice
  - then more hot water until you reach 300ml/1 & ¼ cups
  
• Dried mixed fruit - to save money (and kitchen cupboard space), I prefer just buying ready-mixed dried fruit. Alternatively, you can use 1 cup of sultanas, 1 cup of golden raisins, and ⅔ cup of chopped glace cherries, dates, currants and mixed peel, etc.
  
• Plain flour/All Purpose Flour - this is the main ingredient to form the tea fruit cake batter and requires 1 tablespoon of baking powder. Alternatively, you could use:
  - 1 & ½ cups + 1 tablespoon of self-raising flour + no baking powder
  - 1 & ½ cups of buckwheat flour + ½ teaspoon xantham gum for gluten free brack + 1 tablespoon gf baking powder
  
• Soft brown sugar - after several testing, we found 1 packed cup to give the perfect sweetness for everyone. You could try with ⅔ cup (140g), but we felt it wasn't quite enough. For a less dense texture and lighter colour, you can swap for caster sugar, or dark brown sugar for the opposite.
  
• Ground mixed spice - to add a warming flavour, usually with cloves and cinnamon. Alternatively, you can use All Spice - both work great!
  
• Large egg - the only moisture this tea brack loaf gets is from tea and beaten eggs. Without it, it would be a very stiff, crumbly and dense mixture. However, if you'd prefer a vegan fruit cake, here are some of the best vegan egg substitutes you can try. Also, if you can't find large eggs, opt for 2 medium.
  
• Pinch of sea salt - this is solely to enhance the flavour of the freckle bread's ingredients
  
• Granulated sugar - adds sparkly decoration and crunch to the top of the cake, or dust with icing sugar after baking and cooled

Optional Ingredients

• Honey: If you're wanting to make an incredibly moist fruit loaf recipe that falls apart in your mouth with extra floral flavours, then you might want to add 2 tablespoon of honey. However, note the mixture will be runnier as honey is 20% water and takes around 30 minutes longer to bake. Or, deduct 10ml from the cold tea.
  
• Unsalted butter - for a softer, lighter crumb, stir in 2 tablespoon of melted unsalted butter into the batter

📋 Instructions

Note, this tea bread starts the night before making the tea mixture:

Tip: If the cake is golden brown, but the cake skewer doesn't come out clean, cover it with baking foil and adjust the cooking time in 10-minute increments and repeat testing.

👩‍🍳 Substitutions

Depending on your dietary needs, here are a few simple swaps you can make:

• Dried mixed fruit - you can use any combination of dried fruits that you like, such as cranberries, apricots, figs, dates, or cherries. Just make sure they are roughly chopped to the same size as the raisins and juicy sultanas for an easy to slice fruit cake recipe.
  
• Tea - you can make this easy fruit loaf recipe with any black tea that you enjoy, such as Earl Grey tea, English Breakfast, or Darjeeling. You can also add some Irish whiskey to the tea for an extra kick, or replace some of the tea with orange juice for more flavour.
  
• Sugar - instead of light brown sugar, you could use muscovado, demerara, or turbinado. You can also use white sugar or honey if you prefer a lighter colour and texture.
  
• Egg - you can use a vegan egg substitute, such as flaxseed meal, chia seeds, or aquafaba. You can also use applesauce or mashed banana as a binder and a sweetener.
  
• Flour - you can use self-raising flour instead of plain flour and baking powder. You can also use buckwheat flour, xantham gum and gluten free baking powder if needed. You can also try other gluten-free flours, such as oat flour, almond flour, or rice flour.
  
• Spice - you can use any spice mix that you like, such as pumpkin pie spice, apple pie spice, or gingerbread spice. You can also use individual spices, such as cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, or cardamom.

⚖️ Variations

Here are a few ways you can personalise this delicious fruit loaf for a special occasion:

• Christmas fruit cake - why not say merry Christmas to someone by gifting them a Bara Brith recipe with brandy instead of tea?
• Deluxe - stir in 2 tablespoons of melted butter into the batter. Also, try glazing this easy fruit loaf with honey while still warm and enhance the look with a bit of lemon drizzle icing for special occasions
• Kid friendly - serve with ice cream and maple syrup for the best experience!
• White bread version - instead you could mix rye flour with active dry yeast, warm water and mix in the soaked fruit with a dough hook or knead on a lightly floured surface. Then cover and store in a warm place to rise before brushing with an egg wash and baking on a greased baking tray

You can also see my traditional fruit cake, which creates an easy fruitcake using ready made minced meat.

🔪 Equipment

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• Mixing bowl or large bowl
• Measuring cups or Weighing scales
• Measuring spoons
• Whisk or fork
• 2lb loaf liner (900g loaf liner)
• 2lb loaf tin (900g loaf tin)
• Spatula
• Cake skewer (or knife)
• Cheese grater
• Lemon juicer
• Cheese grater (for zest)
• Cling film or tin foil
• Wire tray for cooling

❄️ Storage

Storing - we prefer eating this fruit loaf once cooled, then throughout the week, but it can be stored in an airtight for up to 2 weeks.

Freezing - cool to room temperature and again, store in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months.

Heating- If you want to eat the next day, defrost in the fridge if required and pan fry in butter, or microwave each slice for 30 seconds.

💡Pro Tips

• For a quick and easy no soak tea brack, similar to a traditional fruit cake, then you can put it all in a pan (without the tea bags) and simmer for about 8-10 minutes. This quick tea soaked fruit cake is similar to my last minute Christmas cake.
  
• Avoid overmixing the batter to prevent a rubbery texture.
  
• While baking your Irish tea loaf recipe, if you find the top is starting to burn, place some tin foil on top while you continue to bake.
  
• To avoid your barmbrack cake from sinking, before removing it from the centre of the oven to test with a cake skewer, give the tin a gentle tap to make sure the better isn't wobbling in the centre. If your cake does sink, it still tastes as lovely, but you may want to make a feature of it and add fruit in the centre or top with frosting to hide while it cools on the wire rack.
  
• To know when your Irish fruit bread is ready, poke in the centre with a cake skewer and see if it comes out clean. If not, bake another 10 minutes and test again. I recommend testing in several places as sometimes you might hit some fruit, which can sometimes be tricky to tell.
  
• If you don't have a cake tester for your fruit loaf cake, you could use a:
  - BBQ skewer
  - Cocktail stick
  - Small knife (but leaves scarring)
  - Dried strand of spaghetti (although they can snap in the cake!😬)

🍽️ Serving Suggestions

The simplest and most traditional way is to cut yourself a slice and simply add butter and serve with some afternoon tea.

You could also serve with a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Or why not try toast it in a frying pan or air fryer to make it crispy with a good slice of cheddar cheese?

❓ FAQ

➕More Dried Mixed Fruit Recipes

Looking for new recipes using dry fruit? Why not try one of these?

➕ More Dessert Recipes

Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:

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📖 Recipe