A St David's Day tea time treat

Bara Birth - a St David’s Day teatime treat.

Everyone has a bars brith recipe, here's ours. It always goes down a treat, and is a fantastic way to celebrate St David's Day. It goes really well with a slice or two of Caerphilly cheese. I wholeheartedly recommend Gorwydd Caerphilly cheese.

1. 2-3 tea bags of your choice. If you like Earl Grey, use Earl Grey.
2. 330 ml (11 fl oz) boiling water
3. 225 g (8 oz) mixed dried fruit
4. 170 g (6 oz) self-raising white flour
5. 170 g (6 oz) self-raising wholemeal flour
6. 1 tsp baking powder
7. 1 tsp ground mixed spice
8. 55 g (2 oz) light muscovado sugar
9. 1 egg, beaten

Preparation method

Prep: 5 hours 10 mins. Depending on how long you want to soak the fruit. 

Cook: 1 hour 15 mins

Make a pot of tea using the 330ml of boiling water. Stir, then leave to infuse for 3–4 minutes. Put the dried fruit in a bowl. Pour the tea over the fruit. Cover and set aside to soak for at least 5 hours or overnight. If pushed for time, steep until the fruit is nice and plump.

Preheat the oven to 160ºC (325ºF, gas mark 3). Grease and line a 900 g (2 lb) loaf tin. Sift the white and wholemeal flours, baking powder and spice into a bowl, tipping in any bran left in the sieve. Stir in the sugar.

Pour in the soaked dried fruit, scraping in all the liquid from the bowl, and add the beaten egg. Lightly mix the egg and fruit together, then stir in the dry ingredients until thoroughly combined. The mixture should be soft enough to drop easily off the spoon. Add 2–3 tsp more hot water if needed.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and spread it out evenly. Bake for about 1hr 15min or until the loaf is well risen and firm, cracked along the middle and browned on top. Cover loosely with foil for the last 20 minutes of baking if it is becoming too brown.

Leave to cool in the tin for about five minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Bara birth matures nicely if it is left for a day or two before eating. Good on you if you can resist eating straight away. It can be kept, in a polythene bag in a cool place, for about five days.