Yorkshire Barm Brack with Wenslydale for Best of British

One of the things I love about visiting tea rooms in Yorkshire is being served a piece of Wenslydale cheese with a slice of fruit cake, it's a fabulous combination and a real treat, if you've never tried it I can recommend it.

When I saw that Karen at Lavender and Lovage was hosting Best of British for the Yorkshire region, it was a no-brainer that I should make a traditional Yorkshire Barm Brack and serve it with a wedge of Hawes Wenslydale cheese. 

Yorkshire Barm Brack

Ingredients:

550g/ dried fruit - sultanas, currants and raisins
225g /4oz candied peel, chopped
225g /8 oz glace cherries, halved
300ml/10 fl oz cold, strong, black "Yorkshire" or other tea
150g/5½ oz butter, slightly softened
150g/5½ oz soft, dark brown sugar
3 large eggs
225g/10oz all purpose/plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp black treacle/molasses
100ml/3 fl oz whisky
1 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
2 tsp lemon juice
110g/4oz ground almonds

1. Place all the dried fruits in a large bowl, pour the tea over, stir well, then cover with a tea towel and leave overnight.
2. Preheat the oven to 170°C (160C Fan)/325°F/Gas 3.
3. Line a 22cm/8½" cake tin (I used a square tin) with greaseproof paper or baking parchment and grease lightly with a little butter.
4. Place both the butter and sugar into a roomy baking bowl. Cream the butter into the sugar until light, smooth and creamy using either a fork or electric hand whisk.
5. Mix the flour with the baking powder. Beat one egg into the creamed butter, then beat in a third of the flour. Repeat until all the eggs and flour are used up.
6. Finally, gently stir in the treacle, whisky, nutmeg and lemon juice to the cake mixture using a spoon or spatula.
7. Drain the dried fruits of the tea and add the ground almonds. Stir well then add to the cake mixture, again stirring gently until all the fruits are incorporated into the mixture. Make sure you do stir gently so as not to knock the air out of the mixture.
8. Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin and gently level the surface. Cook in the preheated oven for 2 - 2½ hours or until dark, golden brown.
9. Remove the cake from the oven and place on to a cooling rack and leave the cake to cool in the tin. Once cooled it is ready to eat. The cake keeps well when stored in an airtight tin. 

It's a lovely moist fruit cake, there is a hint of whisky flavour, not surprising given how much there is in it!  The black treacle and dark brown sugar also add a lovely depth to the flavour.  I probably had my oven a little too high as it was ready a little soon and is a bit more damp in the middle than I would have liked.  It's an easy recipe to make and definitely one to make again.


If you would like to enter the Best of British challenge which is sponsored for the first six months by New World Appliances  proud BRITISH manufacturers of kitchen appliances.  Each month, one entrant will be picked AT RANDOM to receive a £50 Amazon voucher.  And, at the end of the six month period there will be a regional showdown, with a judge to pick the best entry  New World Appliances have kindly offered £300 of Amazon vouchers for the overall winner, so if you enter every month you have 6 chances to win the grand prize!
We’ll be showcasing the entries both on the Face of New World blog and on host blogs and promoting the recipes through Facebook and Twitter, with all your entries fully credited back to your blogs. The full rules are posted on The Face of New World Appliances.

The Best of British Challenge has been organised by Karen Burns Booth of Lavender and Lovage and Fiona McLean of London Unattached.  Many thanks to them both for all their hard work.

I'm also entering this cake for Alphabakes August 2012. as it is a Teabread for the letter 'T'.  Alphabakes is organised by Ros at The More than Occasional Baker and Caroline at Caroline Makes.