I have one teapot, it must be about 20 years old and it occasionally makes an appearance on my kitchen table. I have vague memories of buying it in Ennis Co.Clare when I lived there, it has a matching milk jug and sugar bowl and somehow they have all remained intact despite being moved around a lot! It spent a good part of it’s life in my mother’s attic when I lived in Jersey and made a happy reappearance into my Kildare kitchen when we moved back to Ireland. It now lives with us in Ely and comes out on special occasions like when my Mum comes over to visit or when we have serious tea drinkers over. I don’t drink tea.
The other time I use the blue tea pot is to make this Irish tea brack. Making Irish tea brack is almost ritualistic for me, you must brew a strong pot of tea, you must wait for it to go stone cold and then pour it over the fruit, then leave the fruit to drink the tea and plump up nice and fat. That is the secret to a good tea brack. You don’t need too much sugar, the fruit is sweet enough and we like to eat it warm, soon after it has been baked with a good helping of Irish butter. It does gets better with age, but it never lasts long enough to age in our house, my daughter’s taste buds are firmly rooted in her Irish genes, she can eat as much of this as she wants.
My grandmother makes 3 or 4 of these at a time, I’ve not mastered that skill yet, but I’m working on it. She freezes hers and I can vouch that they still taste great when thawed and are excellent sliced and toasted. I spoke to her yesterday and as usual we talk about cooking and baking, I told her I was making tea brack, we debated the addition of glace cherries, she likes them I don’t, some say they are crucial to a traditional Irish tea brack, I disagree. I think, as with any food you should go with what you like, that’s why I leave them out. I use a mixture of sultanas and mixed fruit, sultanas are juicier and I find they result in a more plump brack. You can enjoy this warm or cold, toasted or not, I tend to make it more in the run up to St.Patrick’s day, but it’s not limited to feast days. It does taste better though when shared with friends, a cup of tea and a few good stories.
This is my final recipe to celebrate Fairtrade Fortnight, I hope you have enjoyed the recipes I have created to raise a little bit of awareness. I have always been a supporter of Fairtrade and believe it is a good thing to support people not corporations. I hope you take a break today and enjoy a cup of tea and a slice or two of brack.
Irish Tea Brack
Ingredients
- 350 ml cold strong Fairtrade tea
- 200 g sultanas
- 150 g mixed fruit
- 230 g plain flour
- 1 heaped tsp mixed spice
- 2 level tsp baking powder
- 2 level tbs dark brown , soft, Fairtrade sugar
- 1 large egg
- Butter for greasing the tin
Instructions
- Soak the fruit in the tea overnight or at least for a couple of hours.
- Pre heat the oven to 160 degrees C, I use a fan assisted electric oven, please adjust according to your own oven.
- Grease a 1 lb loaf tin liberally with butter.
- Add the flour, baking powder, spice and sugar to a large mixing bowl and stir together, make a well in the centre then break the egg into the well.
- Add the fruit, keeping the tea, and mix well using a wooden spoon. You should have a wet sticky dough, if it's too dry add some of the reserved tea.
- Spoon the dough into the prepared loaf tin and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 50 - 60 minutes. The brack is done when it is a rich golden colour, you can test it by piercing it with a metal skewer, it should come out dry.
- Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Wrap in tin foil and keep for 3 - 4 days.
More Irish Recipes for St.Patrick’s Day:
- Traditional Irish Soda Bread
- Irish Scones
- Irish Brambrack
- Shepherds Pie with Colcannon
- Irish Apple Tart
- Irish Potato Cakes
If you’ve tried this or any other recipe on the blog then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you! You can also FOLLOW ME on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest to see more delicious food.
* Fairtrade UK supplied the tea for this brack, this does not affect my opinions or may ability to eat brack.
This looks absolutely divine. I know what I’m baking tomorrow 🙂 Thanks for the great recipe.
Thank you so much Esther x I hope you enjoy it x
This looks amazing! And I love your teapot story. I just love to hear the stories behind he food. And! I’m totally with you – no glacé cherries allowed!!! Xxx
Thanks so much Sasha x Yay for no cherries 😉
What a lovely post Michelle! I’ve never tried Irish Tea Brack, I love the simplicity and the tradition of this recipe and wow it looks so tasty! xx
Thanks Hana x The simple things are the best I think 😉
I made this today–what a lovely recipe! This is definitely a recipe that I will make again. (I didn’t even add the 2TBS of sugar. It was delicious without it. You are right–the fruit makes it wonderfully sweet.)
Hi Heather, I’m so glad you liked it x I’m making it again this week so I’m going to try it without the sugar 🙂
Just wanted to write and say, what a great recipe! I made it today for my Northern Irish fiancé, and he said it reminded him of home! Me, I just thought it was tasty 😉 Will definitely be keeping this recipe for future use, thanks!
Hi Kirsti, thank you so much! I’m so glad you both enjoyed it and I’m so happy it reminded your fiancé of home x
I’m interested in making this for St. Patrick’s day. But I live in Canada and I’m not sure what “mixed fruit” or ” mixed spice” consist of.
Is the fruit other types of dried fruit, like currants or apricots? Can you point me to a home made version of mixed spice? My mother was Irish and I have continued her St. Patty day celebrations with my own children and now grandchildren. Thanks
Hi Louise, mixed fruit is a mixture of sultanas (golden raisons) raisons and dried orange and lemon peel. They usually come in a bag pre mixed. You could use those ingredients seperately or just use sultanas. Mixed spice you can buy online through amazon but if you need it for Saturday then this recipe may help – https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/181605/mixed-spice. I hope this helps. It’s so lovely that you continue your St.Patrick’s day traditions with your family, I hope you have a lovely Paddy’s Day Xx
Thank you Michelle! I’ll have to make both the spice and the mixed fruit myself. I cook a LOT, and live in a small town so I know I can’t get them the same way. We do St. Patrick’s day every year. I want my family to remember their heritage and besides, it’s fun for the kids! I try new recipes every year and I thought this sounded lovely! I’ll let you know how they like it!
You’re very welcome Louise, I hope they like it, my daughter loves this. I’ll look forward to hearing how you get on! Have a great time celebrating Xx
Hi Michelle,
I bought the ingredients to make this today and currently have the fruit soaking. I’m just wondering what you mean by ‘keeping the tea’- do you mean to keep the tea with the fruit and add it all the bowl or to reserve it? I’m leaning more towards the latter but as it’s my first time making this recipe I said I’d check.
Many thanks,
Leah
Oh dear, I reread the recipe and see my question is answered in the following step! Apologies!
Hi Leah, I’ve just seen your comment. No worries at all, I hope the brack turned out ok for you Xx
Can I please ask you what are the spices. Thank you. Mel
Hi Mel, mixed spice is a blend of spices. It usually consists of a mixture of ground allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, ground cloves and ground ginger. You should be able to find it in your supermarket in the spice section. If not you can buy it online. If you want to make your own this is a good recipe to get started with https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/181605/mixed-spice I hope this helps x