Fruit Tea Loaf/Cake

I saw this recipe in the Waitrose magazine today and wondered if I could make it work for us. I could and it did!

Dairy free, Soya free, Egg free (with variation) Wheat free, Gluten Free, Corn Free, Nut free

Ingredients

• 1 teabag
• 200ml just boiled water
• 1 unwaxed lemon (didn't have any, didn't bother)
• 375g mixed dried fruit of your choice
• 2 tsp ground mixed spice
• 1 ripe banana
• organ egg replacer equiv. to 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp free from milk (optional, only if mixture not a soft "dropping" consistency)
• 150g Doves Farm self raising flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder

This is adapted - the original recipe was double quantity but replacing 4 eggs is tough, even with a banana for help! So I figured if I kept in the whole banana and additional baking powder, only replaced 2 eggs (I'm doing this for all you lovely people as we can eat eggs you know ;)  ) it might just work. It did! However I think freezing after tomorrow is wise, it's going to go hard quickly.

Method

• Preheat oven to 170C/Fan 150C/GasMark3
• Pour boiling water into a large bowl with the tea bag and leave for 5 mins. Squeeze and discard bag.
• Weigh dried fruit (I used a complete mixture) and add this and the mixed spice to the tea. Either microwave or simmer on the hob until almost all the tea has been absorbed.
• Leave to cool for approx 40mins. Meanwhile line an 8" square tin with baking paper.
• In a blender or food processor, whizz up the egg replacer mixture and banana to make a puree. Add in the flour and baking powder. You could do this in a mixer (Kenwood/KitchenAid) but it works best in something faster.
• Pour the egg/banana/flour mixture into the fruit and mix it all together.
• Transfer to tin and bake for 30 minutes. 
• Turn the cake out, peel off the baking parchment before it cools and leave to cool properly - or at least so it's not going to burn your fingers!!

Kids verdict - "Delicious!" But definitely one best served warm/fresh. it did go quite dry unfortunately.