I've been using the same very basic recipe for a few years and although it's ok as a cheap to make everyday teabread, I would like to try a different recipe - one that makes the cake a bit more moist and flavoursome. Any ideas?

(for those who don't know, Bara Brith is a Welsh fruit loaf where the dried fruit is first soaked in sugary tea overnight. According to my Welsh father in law, every family had their own recipe and they all claim theirs is the best - unfortunatly he never learned his family recipe and it wasn't written down!)

I make one with tea but it has no fat in it. I think my recipe is on here somewhere from ages ago.

This is our family recipe which my mum uses and it makes a great Bara Brith (I got it straight from her hence the imperial measures!).


Hope that helps, happy baking!!!

Thank you ecco66! I will give it a go! I can see straight away that your mum uses a bit more more tea than I do - maybe that's why my cake is a bit dry - not enough liquid? I will give it a go with wholemeal too. I wouldn't really describe the consistency of my cake batter as 'dropping' - it's thicker than that which also indicates not enough liquid. Oven temp is cooler too.

Thanks again - I'll let you know how I get on

Mine is similar to ecco66, but I would beat the egg into a little butter.
The butter gives it a deeper flavour and a little richness.

My method is also a little different. I wouldn't strain the fruit, I'd just add the egg&butter and the flour straight into the tea-steeped fruit and go from there.
Stop adding flour as soon as you feel the mixture getting to the consistency you want.

If using wholemeal flour, add a tsp of baking powder or it won't rise properly and you'll just get a dense flat cake.

There are some bara brith recipes involving yeast, but these are dry and unpleasant - more like a bun loaf.

Yes, I've tried a recipe with yeast in and for me it just wasn't bara brith. Thanks for the baking powder tip. When you say a little butter, approx how much?

I really, really wish I'd made some this week as I'm craving it now but I had to settle for making cookies this week as I've run out of dried fruit!

I'd use two ounces of softened butter with a little flour thrown in to stop it curdling as you beat in the egg.

I'd also use more sugar than ecco66 - about 5oz, and far less tea.
If you're going to use 3 pints using my method, the cake would be very sloppy. I'd use no more than a pint-and-a-half.

No-one has the definitive recipe I suppose, we all have our favourite!

We certainly do, all are different! I'd never put baking powder in mine and never far less tea but that's what makes Bara Brith so unique to families

Next we'll have to discuss Welsh Cake recipes

My only feelings with those are:
- no baking powder or SR flour, they're meant to be dense and not flabby.
- no mixed spice, cinnamon or nutmeg or anything like that.

Can I query the amount of tea please.

Is it 2/3rds of a pint of tea or

2 to 3 pints?

I don't tend to get any problems with wholemeal without baking powder, and without mixed spice it would feel like something is missing!

Two thirds I think...please clarify ecco as I'm aiming to bake on Saturday!

Mixed spice is an absolute must - I tend to sprinkle a little extra cinnamon in too

Here's a nice little article about bara brith. http://www.countryfile.com/countrysi...ood-bara-brith

Someone gave me the link to this recipe...never heard of a bara brith containing honey before...interesting.
http://www.visitwales.com/explore/tr...pes/bara-brith

Must say I always eat it sliced with a generous helping of butter, the tiny amount of salt in the butter sets the cake/bread off perfectly.

2/3rds of a pint, jazzy and Daisy

Thanks very much - OH is going to make it tomorrow now he has the tea measure sorted.

Yes it seems ubiquitous now, especially in nearly all shop-bought Welsh-cakes.
I prefer the subtle taste of the fruits and the richness of the butter coming through, without the pervading flavours of spices.
I doubt the farmer's wives on hilltop farms would have had expensive spices when the cakes were invented, and I guess that's the recipe that's came down to me.

All down to personal taste again though.

My (Scottish) grandma used to make a nutty fruit loaf (bit like Dundee cake) and she would never put spices in a fruit loaf. I don't know when spices would have been available - but then I'm stuff unsure how these rural British areas got hold of currant or raisins because they would surely need grapes vineyards and hot sun...but they must have done, somehow. Like you say, it's personal taste and everyones Bara Brith is different...which is exactly what makes it Bara Brith.

I am having my first bash at making BB with a new recipe this week, then another one next week - I'm figuring I'll be baking 10 0r 12 loaves until I perfect 'my bara brith'. The first mix will be the Welsh Tourist Board one (simply because we don't usually have fresh orange juice in the house but today we do). Next week when I have been to the shops I'll get some wholemeal flour but also more sugar like you recommend as my origional recipe just doesn't have that 'sticky/sweet malty' taste I like.I feel it should have butter in it too so I'll play around with that.

My nephew has an egg allergy and I'd hate him to miss out but I'm supposing an egg free Bara Brith is too much to ask for, I might try one loaf with out (replace with butter?) and see what happens.

You could try my boiled fruit cake recipe if you're going for egg-free.
It's from my mum's old Leisure gas cooker recipe book, and I make it now and again as it's quite a lightweight fruit cake. Using tea can make it quite bara-brithish Here it is:

8oz flour
Half tsp of mixed spice
Half tsp bicarb
5oz dried fruit
3oz butter
3oz brown sugar
Third of a pint of water or tea

Chop the fruit and boil it with the butter, sugar and water/tea for 3 minutes. Allow to get cold
Add the flour, spice and bicarb, and mix together.
Cook in loaf tin for one-and-a-half hours at Gas Mark 4 (160 degrees fan.)

Thank you Welsh-lad, I will give that a try.

Right...I have started my many trials to perfect my family bara brith recipe. I chose the Welsh Tourist Board one to start because we bought some fresh orange juice which is needed. It's here:

http://www.visitwales.com/explore/tr...pes/bara-brith

Ok...well it was an improvement on my original recipe. Not sure if it was the addition of the honey or orange juice but the cake had a lovely moist denseness a bit like Soreen. It did burn though so I had to cut the top off. The batter was alarmingly thick - like cookie dough. Good but far from perfect.

So next week I'm going to try 3 things: omit orange juice, keep honey, add a little butter -and use wholmeal flour with a raising agent. As I say, this is going to take me quite some time to perfect to any other suggestions welcome