By Request: Irish Tea Brack from the McDonnell’s Good Food Cookbooks
Since I first wrote about the McDonnell’s Good Food Cookbooks I have had several emails asking for recipes that people remember from their childhood or enjoyed years ago but have since lost. The latest request, from Renee who wants to make the cake for a family occasion, is for the Tea Brack recipe from the first cookbook. This is one of our family favourites, a much used recipe, but – as I well remember from frustrated occasions searching for it – annoyingly filed under the name Irish Tea Brack in the Irish Tea Time Favourites chapter, just across the page from Gingerbread.
It is a very simple cake to make. Just soak your fruit the night before you want to bake it – you could always replace some of the tea with whiskey for added interest – and it multiplies up very well. I well remember soaking vast bowls of dried fruit to make four or six loaves at a time as it keeps very well in the old biscuit tin that was always filled with some kind of fruitcake for the after school cup of tea. It is particularly good, cut into thin slices and spread with lots of salty butter. Back in the days when I didn’t like fruitcake, I did love this and Boiled Fruit Cake from the same book as the liquid used in both recipes ensured that the dried fruit was properly re-hydrated, the slices crammed full of plump and luscious sultanas, raisins and currants, with maybe the occasional cherry thrown in for good measure.
Along with substituting butter for the marg used in the original recipe, I will give both the imperial and metric measurements as they appear in the cookbook. I haven’t cooked this in a fan oven so would be interested to know what kind of temperature/cooking times other people use.
Irish Tea Brack
Strong black tea – 12 tablespoons/180ml
Mixed dried fruit – 1lb/450g
Brown sugar – 6oz/175g
Egg – 1, lightly beaten
Butter – 1oz/25g, melted
Plain flour – 10oz/275g
Bread soda – ½ level teaspoon
Mix the black tea, dried fruit and brown sugar in a large bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave to soak overnight.
The next day, preheat the oven to 350˚F/180˚C. Butter and line a 2lb/800g loaf tin.
Stir the egg and melted butter into the soaked fruit mixture. Sieve the plain flour and bread soda together and fold in to the rest of the ingredients. Scrape the cake mixture into the prepared tin and bake for approximately 90 minutes.
Cool in tin for 10 minutes before turning out. Cool on a wire rack.
Makes 1 loaf.
Love this recipe, I used to make it when my children were young, from the McDonald’s book, all of which I still have in my collection of cookery books. My son has requested them as his inheritance.I saw Matthew Ford make a very similiar version recently on UK TV food’s ‘Market Kitchen’
That son of yours is getting very organised for the future!I think that there’s another version of this recipe in one of the Avoca books so it’s still around. Writing this up has made me want to make it again – it’s been ages!
Dear Caroline,Thanks very much for replying. The recipe I remember from Paula Daly’s Cookbook was one that didn’t require eggs.I think it was called teabread in the cookery book. The imperial system was in use at the time. It involved using equal quantities of sugar and margarine. 4 ozs. of each I think.I can’t remember the amount of mixed dried fruit required. I think 1/2 pint of tea was used.The sugar, margarine, mixed dried fruit and tea were boiled in a saucepan and left to cool in a mixing bowl.Flour, bread soda and mixed spice were then added to the mixture in the bowl.A two lb loaf tin was used with a piece of greaseproof put inside the bottom of the tin.I can’t remember what oven temperature was used. I think it took 1 hour or 1 1/4 hours. I imagine 1 hour or less would be sufficient in a fan oven.The teabread was nicest when it was moist. I found if I added more mixed spice and more liquid and cooked it a bit less it tasted lovely.I see from borrowbooks.ie that some of the Mcdonnells’ s cookbooks are available at certain county libraries. Not County Limerick unfortunately. Haven’t time to arrange an inter library loan. Need teabread for Friday night!I will experiment by using different quantities of ingredients and using butter instead of margarine. Teabread may be too oily if I use butter.I love reading bibliocook.comThanks for all your help.Regards,Renee
That was a bit of a search! I was completely convinced that the Irish Tea Brack was what you were looking for – that being one of my own favourites – but couldn’t find anything like you were describing in the first McDonnell’s Cookbook. But, when I went looking in the second one I hit the jackpot (hopefully, at least!). There is a recipe for Fruit Teabread in the And Now for Some Teatime Specials chapter which fits your description. I’ll type it out below.Fruit TeabreadMargarine/butter – 4oz/125gTea – ½ pint/275mlsMixed dried fruit – 6oz/175gCastor sugar – 4oz/125gSelf-raising flour – 9oz/250gBread soda – 1 level teaspoonSalt – ½ level teaspoonMixed spice – ½ level teaspoonPreheat the oven to 350˚F/180˚C. Butter and line a 2lb/900g loaf tin.Place the margarine or butter, tea, dried fruit and sugar in a saucepan over a low heat and, stirring continuously, bring to the boil and simmer for 4 minutes. Pour into a big bowl and allow to cool.Sieve the self-raising flour, bread soda, salt and mixed spice together. Mix into the cooled fruit mixture. Put into the prepared tin and bake in the preheated oven for 1 to 1¼ hours. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out, removing the paper lining and cooling on a wire tray.Makes 1 x 2lb/900g loaf.I do hope this is the right recipe this time! Let me know how you get on and what changes you make to the recipe.
Thanks a million! That’s the right recipe. I will try it out but I will need to lower the cooking temperature. I tried making a version of teabrack yesterday but the oven temperature was a bit too high. With a fan oven I need to lower the temperature. I had it at 170 Centigrade.I will let you know how the fruit teabread recipe turns out. Great to have the correct quantities although the one I made yesterday tasted lovely apart from the crust being a little hard because of the oven temperature being too high.I remember that there was a lovely recipe for apple tart in one of the books and another lovely recipe for meatballs in a tangy sauce using cider vinegar as one of the ingredients. It is a pity that the cookery books aren’t reprinted or modernised.Thanks again and sorry to put you to all the bother of having to look up the recipe for the fruit bread.Regards,Renee
Apologises for delay in getting back to tell you about fruit teabread. Our computer was acting up a bit. Everything is ok now. Touch wood!Because everyone had brought so much food I didn’t produce the fruit teabread. I ended up giving people food to bring home with them.The fruit teabread was lovely. I didn’t put salt in it. Maybe I should have. I had made a few and they should have kept better. I used unsalted butter which tasted nicer than one I made using margarine. I didn’t put enough liquid or didn’t boil the fruit for long enough in the saucepan for another of the teabreads or something. It tasted a bit bready. I like a flavour which tastes like fruit cake.We have a fan oven. I tried 160 Degrees Centigrade which was fine. Ever oven is different.I will make another fruit teabread and this time I will use some salt so it should keep for longer.Thanks again and best wishes.
I loaned my book to somebody years ago and never got it back. I’ve looked for a copy of the Paula Daly’s McDonnells good food cook book but to no avail. Could someone please email me The recipe for The Boiled Fruitcake please.
Hi Eilish
Can’t believe that they never returned your book! Here’s a link to the page in question. I’ll email you a pic of that page as well. It’s a good recipe, one that I use a lot myself.
McDonnell’s Good Food cookbook – Paula Daly – Boiled Fruit Cake