Fruity tea loaf recipe...

I have to admit, I was a little nervous about making this cake, Tea loaf is one of my absolute all time favourites and my mum does it so well that I didn't think I would be able to compare. Luckily I managed to make sense of the recipe that my mum sent over to me and the cake was just delicious. I made this as Mark's grandparents came over to see our new (ish) flat and it was lovely. It also went down a treat when I took it into work and as none of my colleagues have (yet) died of food poisoning, I'm going to count this as a success!

Ingredients:
* 1 lb mixed dried fruit * 6 oz demerara sugar- I used dark muscovado sugar as I didn't have anything else in the cupboard * 1 teacup of strong tea
Place above in a bowl and leave overnight (or as long as possible)
* 1 oz butter * 8 oz self-raising flour * 1 egg * 2 oz walnuts * 1 tablespoon caster sugar * Grated rind of 1 lemon and 1 orange

Place the dried fruit, demerara sugar and a teacup of strong tea in a bowl and leave overnight (or as long as possible). This makes a delicious looking bowl of fruit and the raisins are so fat and juicy!

Grease and line a 2 lb loaf tin and heat the oven to 160°C. Add the flour, egg and grated rind to the fruit mixture and beat well.

I love any excuse to use my Kenwood mixer and it makes the whole process so much easier!

Although the mixture may look gross, I can promise that it tastes delicious!

Add your mixture to the tin and level it off.

Scatter chopped walnuts on the top and then add a tablespoon of caster sugar.

Dot the top with small blobs of butter and bake for 1 and a half hours

Allow to cool and then dig in!