Why Tea Is Good Enough To Eat!

We all know how lovely tea is to drink, but do you know you can eat it too?

On Saturday I made this gluten free tea cake for my mum. She is a coeliac and cannot eat anything with wheat or gluten in.

Gluten free cake from supermarkets are still fairly expensive, and it either is very greasy or very dry. There is little middle ground when it comes to gluten free cakes. And, of course, we must not forget how lovely homemade cake is.

My friend, Rebecca, sent me over the recipe for Tea Cake and I decided to alter the flour so it could be eaten by mum and I have to say it's delicious. I used Northern Tea Merchants lovely Gourmet Teabags which is a black tea but there is nothing to say people can't alter it by using Lady Grey, Earl Grey or even a smokey Lapsang Souchong to give it extra flavour.

This is a lovely, spicy cake with substance and it's really light too. I think there is something really lovely about including tea within your cake. For a tea obsessive, this is really wonderful. It takes on a great tea colour too. It's just so lovely and inviting.

Here is the recipe if you'd like to give it a go. The recipe is enough to fill a 1lb loaf tin.

Ingredients:

3 black tea teabags
60g's of seedless raisins
30g's glace cherries
60g butter
85g light brown sugar
1 egg
100g plain flour
1/4 tsp of bircarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp of mixed spice
Handful of chopped walnuts (optional - I didn't use these)

Method:

Before doing anything else brew 3 teabags in 150ml's of water for ten minutes. Remove the teabags and add the raisin's into the liquid and let soak for an hour. After the hour is up separate the raisins from the liquid and retain both raisins and liquid.

1. Heat the over to 180.
2. Cream together the butter and sugar till smooth and creamy.
3. Add the egg and beat.
4. Add in the flour, bicarbonate of soda and mixed spice. Mix well.
5. Add in the raisins and cherries and add 3 tablespoons of the reserved tea.
6. Finally, mix everything in well and add to the loaf tin.
7. Cook for 45 minutes but check at 35 minutes and then 40 minutes. You'll know the cake is cooked when fork or cake tester comes out clean. If parts of the mixture are stuck on the fork or cake tester then carry on cooking, testing regularly till fork comes out clean.

I urge anyone to try this cake. It's utterly gorgeous and a perfect compliment to, well, tea!

Thanks to Rebecca from Brunette Lifestyle  for passing on this delicious recipe.