Traditional Irish Barmbrack (Tea Version)
During Halloween there are two types of Barmbrack that are made. There is this one which has more fruit and more tea based. The other has less fruit and you add yeast to the mix. Both are great and we have a tradition of adding objects to the cake which I will get into below.
Brew the tea and let it cool down. We don’t want the raisins to plump up too fast.
When the tea is cool add it into your fruit mix and mixed peal. I do reccommend adding some whiskey.
The next morning you add in the sugar and egg.
You’ll see the mixture is still pretty wet at this stage.
Add in the flour and your spices.
When mixed well we can add it to the tin.
I normally slam the tin a few times so that there’s no air bubbles stored below. At this stage you can wrap in parchment paper, a ring, a coin or evern a rag. These symbolise a wedding, wealth or poverty.
After 60 minuets you can leave it in the tin for about 15 minutes and then leave it on a wire rack after that.
There’s a really great color from the tea version of Barmbrack.
Might be even the tastier of the two. Make tea and put on some butter.
- 10 Slices
- 60 minutes
- 60 minutes
Ingredients
Fruit Mix
- 375g (13.2oz) of fruit mix
- 200g (7oz) of mixed peal (Optional)
- 300ml (10.55 fl/oz) of cold black tea
- 70ml (2.45 fl/oz) of whiskey (Optional)
Cake
- 250g (8.8oz) of self raising flour
- 125g (4.4oz) brown sugar
- 1 tsp of mixed all spice
- 1 large eggs
Directions
Fruit Mix
- In a mixing bowl add the fruit mix and mixed peal.
- Stir the mix while adding in the cooled down black tea.
- Add in the whiskey and mix again.
- Let this sit over night to let the raisins truely soak up the tea and whiskey.
Cake
- Heat the oven to 170°C (340°F).
- In your mixing bowl with the fruit, tea and whiskey, mix in the sugar.
- Mix in the egg.
- Sift in the flour slowly.
- Add in the All Spice.
- When combined add the mixture to a greased and lined loaf tin.
- Traditionaly you can wrap items in parchment paper like a ring to suggest you’ll get married in the year, a coin to suggest wealth, a rag to suggest poverty or a pea suggest you won’t marry.
Bake
- Bake for 60 mins at 170°C (340°F).
- When done leave it in the tin for about 15 minutes.
- Then leave it on the wire rack to cool down.
- For best results, I’d recommend to wrap it up with parchment paper and then tin foil and leave it for 2 days before digging into it.
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