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Mary Berry's Earl Grey Tea Fruit Loaf Recipe

Mary Berry's classic five-ingredient tea fruit loaf made with dried fruit soaked overnight in Earl Grey tea. Dense, moist, fragrant with bergamot, and completely butter-free until you slice and serve it. One of the easiest loaves you will ever bake.
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Earl Grey tea fruit loaf by Mary Berry
Prep Time:10 minutes
Cook Time:1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 350 grams raisins currents & sultanas
  • 300 ml strongly brewed hot Earl Grey tea
  • 275 grams self-raising flour
  • 225 grams light or dark muscovado sugar or use any brown sugar
  • 1 large free-range egg beaten

Instructions

  • Place all the fruit in a bowl and cover it with hot tea. Leave to soak overnight.
  • Preheat the oven to 150 °C and line a 900g/2lb loaf tin with non-stick baking paper.
  • Add the flour, sugar and egg to the bowl of soaked fruit (if there is a little excess liquid this is fine) and mix thoroughly.
  • Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth out the top.
  • Bake for 1¾ hours, or until the cake is risen and is just firm to the touch, but check it after 1¼ hours to see how it is doing. Loosely cover with a piece of tin foil from about halfway through to prevent over-browning if necessary. Leave to cool in the tin for about 10 minutes.
  • Turn out the loaf and remove the paper.
  • Serve thick slices with a generous spread of butter.

Notes

Soak the fruit overnight for the best result, eight hours minimum. Cover loosely with foil from halfway through baking to prevent over-browning. The loaf improves significantly on day two. Store wrapped at room temperature for up to five days or freeze for up to three months

Storage and freezing

Once completely cool, wrap the loaf tightly in cling film followed by a layer of foil and store at room temperature for up to five days. It actually improves over the first day or two as the flavours deepen and the texture settles. Keep it in an airtight tin rather than a plastic bag for best results.
To freeze, wrap the cooled loaf in cling film and then foil and freeze for up to three months. Defrost at room temperature still wrapped, which takes several hours or overnight. Slice and serve with butter as normal once thawed. You can also freeze individual slices, which makes it easy to pull one out when needed.
 
Servings: 10
Author: Mary Berry