![]() | |
Place of origin | England |
---|---|
Region or state | Yorkshire |
Main ingredients | Fruit, cinnamon or other spices |
A tea loaf is an English bread, made with dried fruit and traditionally served sliced and spread with butter. It is seen as a very traditional cake and the tea loaf is available in cafes and other establishments that serve traditional afternoon tea. It is particularly associated with Yorkshire.
In the making of tea loaves, the fruit (usually currants and sultanas) is soaked in initially hot tea to plump it before mixing it into the batter. The fruit is left in the tea for several hours, or overnight, and so is mainly steeped in cold tea.
The tea used to make the cake was traditionally black tea, but Earl Grey or other teas can also be used.
Eggs are beaten into the tea/fruit mixture to bind the ingredients together and then the flour, sugar and any ground spices (such as mixed spice or cinnamon alone) are added. [1]
Yeast used to be used as the raising agent but self-raising flour is specified in modern recipes. [1]
Although currants and sultanas are traditional fruits, others can also be used such as glace cherries, crystallised ginger, dried apricots, peel or orange zest.
A key feature of tea bread is the lack of fat in the recipe with the consequence of improved keeping qualities. Indeed, the flavour is often considered to improve with time. [1]
Similar breads in the British Isles include the Welsh bara brith [2] and the Irish barmbrack. [3]
Zante currants, Corinth raisins, Corinthian raisins or outside the United States simply currants, are raisins of the small, sweet, seedless grape cultivar Black Corinth. The name comes from the Anglo-French phrase "raisins de Corinthe" and the Ionian island of Zakynthos (Zante), which was once the major producer and exporter. It is not related to black, red or white currants, which are berries of shrubs in the genus Ribes and not usually prepared in dried form.
Spotted dick is a traditional British steamed pudding, historically made with suet and dried fruit and often served with custard.
A scone is a traditional British baked good, popular in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is usually made of either wheat or oatmeal with baking powder as a leavening agent, and baked on sheet pans. A scone is often slightly sweetened and occasionally glazed with egg wash. The scone is a basic component of the cream tea. It differs from teacakes and other types of sweets that are made with yeast. Scones were chosen as the Republic of Ireland representative for Café Europe during the Austrian presidency of the European Union in 2006, while the United Kingdom chose shortbread.
Fruitcake or fruit cake is a cake made with candied or dried fruit, nuts, and spices, and optionally soaked in spirits. In the United Kingdom, certain rich versions may be iced and decorated.
Bara brith is a traditional Welsh tea bread flavoured with tea, dried fruits and spices.
Welsh cakes, also bakestones or pics, are a traditional sweet bread in Wales. They have been popular since the late 19th century with the addition of fat, sugar and dried fruit to a longer standing recipe for flat-bread baked on a griddle.
A teacake in England is generally a light yeast-based sweet bun containing dried fruit, typically served toasted and buttered. In the U.S. teacakes can be cookies or small cakes. In Sweden, they are soft, round, flat wheat breads made with milk and a little sugar, and used to make buttered ham or cheese sandwiches. In India and Australia, a teacake is more like a butter cake. Tea refers to the popular beverage to which these baked goods are an accompaniment.
Coffee cake may refer to a sponge cake flavored with coffee or, in the United States, a sweet cake intended to be eaten with coffee or tea. A coffee-flavored cake is typically baked in a circular shape with two layers separated by coffee butter icing, which may also cover the top of the cake. Walnuts are a common addition.
A saffron bun, Cornishtea treat bun or revel bun, is a rich, spiced yeast-leavened sweet bun that is flavoured with saffron and contains dried fruit including currants and raisins similar to a teacake. The main ingredients are plain flour, butter, yeast, caster sugar, currants and sultanas. Larger versions baked in a loaf tin are known as saffron cake.
Barmbrack, also often shortened to brack, is a yeast bread with added sultanas and raisins. The bread is associated with Halloween in Ireland, where an item is placed inside the bread, with the person receiving it considered to be fortunate.
Lardy cake, also known as lardy bread, lardy Johns, dough cake and fourses cake, is a traditional rich spiced form of bread found in several southern counties of England, each claiming to provide the original recipe. It remains a popular weekend tea cake in the southern counties of England, including Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Dorset and Gloucestershire.
Genoa cake is a fruit cake consisting of sultanas, currants or raisins, glacé cherries, almonds, and candied orange peel or essence, cooked in a batter of flour, eggs, butter and sugar.
A rock cake, also called a rock bun, is a small cake with a rough surface resembling a rock. They were promoted by the British Ministry of Food during the Second World War since they require fewer eggs and less sugar than ordinary cakes, an important savings in a time of strict rationing. Traditional recipes bulked them with oatmeal, which was more readily available than white flour.
Dundee cake is a traditional Scottish fruit cake.
Northern Irish cuisine encompasses the cooking styles, traditions and recipes associated with Northern Ireland. It has distinctive attributes of its own, but has also drawn heavily from Irish and British cuisines.
Bread is a staple food throughout Europe. Throughout the 20th century, there was a huge increase in global production, mainly due to a rise in available, developed land throughout Europe, North America and Africa.
Kletzenbrot is a sweet bread with dried fruits, especially dried pears made for the Advent season in some Christian countries, notably associated with the Austrian state of Tyrol, and sometimes called Tyrolean Dried Fruit Bread. Modern varieties are usually made with dried fruits and nuts like walnuts, raisins, currants, dried apples, figs and prunes. Most recipes add spices like cinnamon, cloves, anise, nutmeg, and rum for extra flavor. There are many possible varieties of the loaf, which is sometimes made with rye flour for a dark brown loaf, but can also be made with whole wheat flour. The flour can either be just incorporated in the dough with the dried fruit or it can be used to make an extra dough coating.