Sunday 19 August 2012

Yorkshire Teabread


I have tried quite a number of teabreads over the years and I am always game for trying a new and different one. Teabread is a useful cake to have around - it keeps well and makes a good snack, being not too sweet. I always think it's especially good spread with a good layer of butter! This recipe came from one of the Waitrose recipe cards which caught my eye as I was doing some shopping recently. I like the fact that it even states on the recipe card that it was created to celebrate Yorkshire Day on the 1st August. I may be a little late, but better late than never.


I can't find the recipe on the Waitrose website at the moment, but will keep checking to see if it's there. The recipes I usually use involve making strong tea (Yorkshire tea would be perfect here!) and soaking the dried fruit overnight. This recipe specifies making the tea and then leaving the fruit for at least an hour. I actually left mine about six hours, because I was doing other things, so it had plenty of time to plump up. I increased the spice in the recipe slightly - 1/4tsp isn't much so my 1/4tsp was rather generous! I also couldn't locate my glace cherries (for a good reason... being that most of my kitchen was relocated to my living room and things were piled on top of each other!) so used dried cranberries instead.


Quite a small loaf - just a 1lb (450g) tin and quite shallow, but tasty nevertheless. The teabread curdled quite badly as I was making it and I really wondered how on earth it would turn out to be edible, but I needn't have worried. This was really delicious. There's a lot less fruit in it than the teabreads I usually make, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's just different. The most noticeable and surprising thing about this cake was how soft it was - really, really tender and delicate. I guess the curdling didn't really matter at all then! Apologies for the particularly dark photographs - as part of moving everything in my kitchen out, my usual lightbox was out of action hence the more-than-usually rubbish photos!



I am entering this teabread into the Best of British challenge, hosted by Karen at Lavender and Lovage, and organised by Karen and Fiona of London Unattached. Many thanks to them for organising this challenge, which is being sponsored by New World Appliances for the first six months.



And as it is T for Teabread, I am also entering it into Alphabakes. This month the host is Ros of The More than Occasional Baker, and her co-host is Caroline of Caroline Makes.

11 comments:

Baking Addict said...

A slab of butter is a must! Great entry for best of british and AlphsBakes!

Gloria Baker said...

I love this teabread look amazi.g:)

Johanna GGG said...

this looks lovely (Even without your lightbox) - I have made very few tea breads - does the tea make it so dark or is there something like molasses in it?

Karen S Booth said...

Oh yes! A PERFECT entry for Yorkshire and Best of British and I will take mine with a slab of cheese please! Karen

celia said...

Fruit cakes seem to curdle so often, but are always ok in the end. This little loaf looks deliciously moist, C!

Choclette said...

Yes C, a good spread of butter makes tea bread a real treat. Interesting that you got a really smooth texture here - maybe the curdling was needed!

What's happening with your kitchen?

Unknown said...

There is a Yorkshire Day? And you have a lightbox? I need to know more about both of these things!

Katie said...

I love tea breads and this one looks loevly and sticky. I have a recipe that is almost more fruit and bread. You can't beat a slice of teacake with a cuppa in the afternoon :)

Anne said...

It looks like all the loveliness of cake crumb but then with tea in, which I equally love!

Caroline said...

Ros - buttered teabread is always good!

Gloria - thank you.

Johanna - the colour is partly due to poor lighting, and the combination of light muscovado sugar and strong tea add the rest of the colour!

Karen - I have to confess that I've never really been one for cake and cheese, but perhaps I should try it some time!

Celia - it truly is so moist and soft and tender, I can't understand why because the ingredients aren't anything particularly special. The curdling really didn't affect it.

Choclette - I think tea bread and butter is such a great treat!

Lucy - I didn't know there was a Yorkshire day either, but apparently it was 1st August. Yorkshire is fabulous though and deserves its own day!

Katie - yes, I have recipes that are more fruit than cake, but this one is definitely more cake than fruit. It's good to have options!

Anne - I think you'd really like this then!

Mich - Piece of Cake said...

Your tea bread looks moist and rich. I have never had tea bread before, and yours would be a great one to try!

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