Irish Tea Brack

Name: Tea Brack
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 90 min
Total time: 830 min
Ingredients: 1½ cups raisins; 1 cup golden raisins; 1 cup light brown sugar; 2 cups tea (black or orange flavored hot tea); 3½ cups cake flour; 2 teaspoons baking powder; 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice; 2 large eggs; 1 teaspoon grated orange zest; ¼ cup orange marmalade; 2 tablespoons orange juice (freshly squeezed)

October 28, 2011 by Irish American Mom 24 Comments

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Brack is a traditional Irish cake baked at Halloween. The name comes from the Irish word ‘breac’, which means speckled.

Fruit freckles every slice of this delicious cake or bread. Tea in the name refers to the practice of soaking dried fruit in cold tea overnight, before adding it to the cake batter.

Baked Tea Brack In Pan — Irish tea brack

Brack – An Irish Halloween Tradition
Ingredients for Irish Tea Brack
- Ingredient Tips and Substitutions
Directions for Irish Tea Brack
Printable Recipe for Irish Tea Brack

Brack – An Irish Halloween Tradition

What makes this cake so much fun is the tradition of baking trinkets inside. I remember chewing each slice, hoping I would be the lucky one to bite into the ring. I wasn’t interested in marriage at six years of age, but just fancied the ring. Each trinket had a meaning:

Ring = marriage within the year
Coin or bean = wealth
Cloth or pea = poverty
Thimble = continue to be a spinster
Button = continue to be a bachelor
Religious medal = join a religious order

There are two types of brack: barmbrack and tea brack. Yeast is used as a raising agent in barm brack, while tea brack rises with the aid of baking powder.

You can learn all about the differences between tea brack and barmbrack here.

Today, I am going to share a recipe for tea brack, an Irish sweet bread with lots of dried fruit.

This version is a little lighter than the tea brack of my youth. The end result is just how my kids like it.

Ingredients for Irish Tea Brack

Here you’ll find a quick list of what you’ll need for this recipe.

Check out the printable recipe at the bottom of this post for US and Metric equivalent versions of the recipe.

There you can choose the measurement system that works best for you.

Ingredients for tea brack — Ingredients for Irish Tea Brack

Here’s what you will need:

raisins
golden raisins
light brown sugar
black or orange flavored hot tea
cake flour
baking powder
pumpkin pie spice or mixed spice
eggs
grated orange zest
orange marmalade
squeezed orange juice

Ingredient Tips and Substitutions

The spice mix used to give tea brack a warming taste is known as mixed spice in Ireland. You can substitute pumpkin pie spice for this spice blend if you wish.

Pumpkin pie spice has more ground cinnamon than a typical mixed spice. You might like to make your own mixed spice for an authentic taste of Ireland and the British Isles.

I use cake flour rather than all-purpose flour for this recipe. It yields a much lighter cake, with that is moist and airy. I also use baking powder, instead of choosing self raising flour. You can add a pinch of salt to the flour if you wish.

Dried currants would be used in a tea brack in Ireland. For my American version of this recipe, I only use raisins. Currants are difficult to find in American grocery stores. We discovered the reason why when I reminisced about blackcurrants.

I don’t use any mixed peel in my recipe, but you could add some candied orange or lemon if you wish.

I bake my tea brack in a round baking pan but you could choose to bake it in loaf tins instead. A 2lb loaf tin should work for this recipe.

Directions for Irish Tea Brack

Here you’ll find step-by-step photographic instructions to help you recreate this recipe successfully. There are plenty of tips included along the way.

Dried Fruit In Bowl for making tea brack — Dried fruit in a bowl for tea brack

Soak the dried fruit

The key to tea brack success is soaking the dried fruit in tea overnight. The night before you plan to make your brack, put the raisins in a glass bowl that can handle high heat.

Add the brown sugar to the fruit.

Tea, raisins and brown sugar — Hot tea ready to pour over dried fruit and sugar

Make a pot of tea and let it brew for a little while. You can use a strong black tea such as English Breakfast Tea, or I chose to use an orange infused tea to add flavor to the fruit.

Add 2 cups of hot tea to the fruit and sugar. Stir it well at this stage to dissolve all of the sugar.

Cover the bowl and leave it overnight. It is best to leave it at room temperature to maximize soakage. The fruit tends to contract a little in a refrigerator.

Some people just pour cold tea over the fruit, but I find the raisins get plumper when I start off with hot tea.

Greased cake pan with Baker's Joy — Grease a round baking pan

Prepare a baking pan

On baking day, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch round cake pan.

In olden days, it was necessary to butter the pan, and then line it with parchment paper to avoid sticking.

I just use a non-stick, quick-release pan, which I spray with flour infused oil. I love this stuff for baking. You have a prepared pan in double quick time.

Sieved flour and spices — Dry ingredients for making Irish tea brack

Prepare the dry ingredients

Next sift the flour, baking powder and pumpkin pie spice into a bowl.

In Ireland we use mixed spice, which has a very unique combination of cinnamon, coriander, caraway, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, allspice, and mace. It adds a very distinctive flavor to Irish and British baking.

The best American alternative is pumpkin pie spice mix.

Eggs, orange juice and orange peel — Eggs and wet ingredients for tea brack

Wet ingredients for teabrack

In another bowl add two eggs, the orange juice and orange zest.

Beat them together.

Marmalade and eggs for brack — Adding marmalade to eggs for teabrack

Next, add the marmalade and beat it all together.

Marmalade is not a traditional ingredient to add to the batter. However, I find it gives this cake a deliciously moist texture, with a hint of orange flavor.

Soaked fruit for tea brack — Soaked raisings and beaten eggs for making tea brack

Make the batter

You are now ready to add the soaked fruit to the egg mixture and blend all the wet ingredients together.

Mixing batter for tea brack — Mixing wet and dry ingredients for Irish teabrack

Next step is where wet meets dry.

Add about one third of the flour mixture to the eggs and mix it together.

Add the next third, and mix well before adding the remainder of the flour.

Tea brack batter in bowl — Teabrack batter in a large mixing bowl

The batter is a fairly gloopy mess. If you plan to add trinkets to your cake, now is the time to do it.

First wrap them in parchment paper. I did not add any, this year. I don’t fancy any choking hazards for my trio of four-year olds. Make sure you don’t use anything plastic or toxic material that might melt.

Pour the batter into the cake pan.

Tea brack batter in cake pan — Tea brack batter in a cake pan

Here’s how it looks in the cake pan before cooking.

Place it in the oven for 90 minutes.

The cake is cooked when a toothpick is inserted and comes out clean.

Cool it in the pan for one hour after removing it from the oven. Then transfer it to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Baked Irish tea brack — Teabrack cooling on a wire rack

Here’s the finished product.

It can be sliced up and buttered to accompany a cup of tea or coffee, or it can be stored in an airtight container or cake box.

Slices of Irish tea brack on a green plate — Slices of Irish Teabrack

Slices of speckled brack – absolutely delicious.

Lots of fruit speckles means this is an authentic brack (remember breac in the Irish language means speckled.)

Printable Recipe for Irish Tea Brack

The printable recipe is outlined below. Please feel free to save and print this recipe for your kitchen files.

Tea Brack

Brack is a light Irish fruit cake made by soaking dried fruit in tea before baking.

5 from 4 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Cake

Cuisine: Irish

Keyword: Brack, Irish Cake, Tea Brack

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Fruit Soaking Time: 12 hours

Total Time: 13 hours 50 minutes

Servings:

Calories: 162kcal

Ingredients

1½ cups raisins
1 cup golden raisins
1 cup light brown sugar
2 cups tea black or orange flavored hot tea
3½ cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
¼ cup orange marmalade
2 tablespoons orange juice freshly squeezed

US Customary – Metric

Instructions

The night before you plan baking this brack, put the dried fruit and brown sugar into a large bowl. Pour the hot tea over the fruit, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Cover and leave overnight to allow the fruit to soak in the tea and swell.
Grease a 9 inch round x 3 inch high cake pan. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Sieve the flour, baking powder, and pumpkin pie spice together in a bowl.
Beat the eggs, marmalade, orange zest and orange juice in another large mixing bowl. Add the tea-soaked fruit and mix well.
Add the spice and flour to the wet raisin mixture in portions (about one third at a time). Mix the flour with a large spoon after each addition.
Pour the cake mixture into the prepared cake pan. Smooth the top and bake in the preheated oven for 90 minutes.
Leave to cool in the pan for about 1 hour before turning the cake out onto a wire rack to fully cool. When it is cold it can be cut in slices to serve, or stored in an airtight cake box.

Nutrition Facts

Tea Brack

Amount Per Serving (50 g)

Calories 162 Calories from Fat 9

% Daily Value*

Fat 1g2%

Saturated Fat 1g6%

Cholesterol 16mg5%

Sodium 50mg2%

Potassium 166mg5%

Carbohydrates 37g12%

Fiber 1g4%

Sugar 15g17%

Protein 3g6%

Vitamin A 25IU1%

Vitamin C 2mg2%

Calcium 40mg4%

Iron 1mg6%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Nutrition Information is estimated based on the ingredients and cooking instructions as described in each recipe and is intended to be used for informational purposes only. Please note that nutrition details may vary based on methods of preparation, origin and freshness of ingredients used.

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Wishing you all happy baking days and a very happy Halloween. I hope you enjoy a few slices of tea brack with a nice cup of Irish breakfast tea.

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