Sunday 18 April 2010

Sticky tea bread recipe

This is from Delia's Frugal Food, which I frugally bought at a second-hand bookshop. It's a really easy cake and rather yummy and as someone requested the recipe I thought I'd share it with everyone.

You need to find:
150ml water
150g caster sugar
110g sultanas
110g butter
1tsp bicarb of soda
1 large egg
I tsp baking powder
175g plain flour

Preheat your oven to 180C or gas 4 or guess if, like me, you are new to having a fan oven.
Grease a 450g/1lb loaf tin. Delia says line it with greaseproof paper but what's the point in having non-stick bakeware if you have to line it? I grease and flour mine and it hasn't stuck yet.
Get a pan and stick in it the water, sugar, sultanas, butter and bicarb. Bring it to the boil, stirring it all together, then boil for ten minutes. It has an explosive tendency to boil over and you need to keep stirring it down or lifting it off the heat for a second. But whatever you do, do not leave it alone to attend to the needs of a child or the gloop will end up all over your hob. What you can be doing is sifting your flour and baking powder and beating your egg.
Then take it off the heat and let it cool enough so that when you stick the egg in it won't scramble. I put the pan in the sink with an inch of cold water round it. Stir the egg in, then the flour and baking powder. Give it a good old mix until it's all smooth, pour it in the tin and bake for about an hour and a half in the middle of the oven. Feel free to go out for a stroll in the sunshine while it's cooking, but when I got back after an hour and twenty minutes my latest loaf was a bit dried out.
Don't forget to enjoy the caramelly tasting bits left in the pan and on the spoon.
Enjoy the cake with a lovely cuppa.
Apparently it gets better if you keep it for a few days in an airtight tin. Mine have never had the chance.

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