Morning, steeping fruit and sugar! Sleep well? My, haven’t you grown? You’re looking a bit swollen, love.

Best make you into a tea loaf then.

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Preheat oven to GM3/160C/325F and line a 2lb loaf tin with baking parchment.

Add 1 tbsp oil

and beat an egg really well, then pour that in

and stir it well

then add 2 cups of self-raising flour and mix that in thoroughly too.

Spoon the mixture into your lined 2lb tin

Put into the oven and bake.

Mine took 1hr 15mins, but I always, always check it at the 1 hr mark. Check to see if it’s done using a wooden toothpick; clean is good.

Mmmmm.

*sniff* MMMMmmm

Cool in the tin. When fully cooled, keep in the paper and wrap in clingfilm. It really does need to sit until tomorrow – you’ll do it no favours by cutting it now – let it get squidgy.

Tomorrow, you can start cutting slices off. Spread with a little butter if you like. It freezes well, so bear that in mind too!

Now this IS a traditional British recipe – the cold tea loaf; a good keeper, moist, fruity, delicious and very low fat. What’s not to like?

This is in 2 parts simply because before you fling together the ingredients, you first have to soak your dried fruit in cold tea.

Make 1 cup (250 ml) of strong tea – I use 2 teabags. Let it stew and then remove the teabags and allow to cool.

Meanwhile, measure a lightly packed cup of light brown sugar. I use Waitrose’s own light brown sugar because it is much darker and more treacle-y than other brands. If you can’t get it, consider using ¾ light brown and ¼ dark brown sugar. Add that to the bowl and quickly stir together.

Measure 1 lb of dried fruit. This can be raisins or sultanas or a mixture of both. I like to use about 7 oz of raisins, 7 oz of sultanas and 2 oz dates. Cut the dates up so they are nearer the size of the raisins and sultanas. Put into a medium bowl.

Once the tea is cold, pour it over the fruit and sugar and stir briefly again

Cover with clingfilm and leave out overnight.

Night night.

By the way, to make the loaf tomorrow, we need 2 cups self-raising flour, 1 egg and 1 tbsp oil. And a 2lb loaf tin to cook it in.

The rest tomorrow!

Here’s part two