This is absolutely delicious, you’d never guess it is not made with flour. It is so Christmassy and delicious warm or thinly sliced the next day with butter. So easy to make, I will be keeping this in my cupboard this winter. It keeps well for a few days in a tupperware style box. Do spend the time soaking the fruit though.. it’s worth it 😉

Ingredients

150g raisins

150g chopped apricots

2 tbsp chopped dried orange peel

150ml strong brewed Christmas tea, or any tea of your choice

2tbsp Kings Ginger alcoholic spirit, or any fruity liqueur eg sloe gin or cointreau

75g soft brown sugar

Put this lot on a bowl and tap the fruits under the liquid surface. It should just cover the fruits, if not add a splash more tea or alcohol.

In another bowl weigh:

100g brown rice flour

100g ground almonds

2 tsp baking powder

2 heaped tsp sweet cinnamon, or mixed spice, or a bit of both

1 large egg

set this aside, don’t crack the egg in yet. You need to wait for the fruit to steep in the liquid. This can take about 2 hours at room temp, or to speed things up considerably (once I’ve decided I want tea bread I don’t have the patience to wait) then pop the bowl in the microwave and give it a 30second blast then stir the fruits and leave for 10 mins, then give it another 30sec blast, stir and leave. You can the judge when the fruits have got to the “plump enough” stage and go from there.

while you wait, grease with butter a loaf tin and preheat an oven to 160 ^oC

Mix the dry ingredients into the fruits and add the egg. Give it all a good stir. Spoon it into the tin and pop it in the oven for 50minutes.

Turn it out onto a wire rack and let it cool for a bit, then devour with butter.

oh and a cup of tea, or liqueur

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