Sugar-crusted bara brith

• 400g/14oz luxury mixed fruit g
• pack dried cranberries↗75g g
• hot strong black tea↗mug
• butter↗100g g

  plus extra for greasing

• orange marmalade↗2 heaped tbsp
• eggs↗2

  beaten

• self-raising flour↗450g g

  - try a mix of wholemeal and white

• light soft brown sugar↗175g g
• each ground cinnamon1 tsp

  and ground ginger

• milk↗4 tbsp
• crushed sugar50g g

  cubes or granulated sugar, to decorate

Step-by-step instructions

1. 1

   Mix together the dried fruit and cranberries in a large bowl, then pour the hot tea over. Cover with cling film and leave to soak overnight.

2. 2

   Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Butter and line the bottom of a 900g/2lb loaf tin with baking parchment. Melt butter and marmalade together in a pan. Leave to cool for 5 mins, then beat in the eggs. Drain any excess tea from the fruit. Mix the flour, sugar and spices together, then stir in the fruit, butter mix and milk until evenly combined. The batter should softly drop from the spoon – add more milk if needed.

3. 3

   Spoon into the tin and level the top. Sprinkle with the crushed sugar and bake for 1-1¼ hrs until dark golden and a skewer inserted comes out clean. Cover loosely with foil if it starts to over-colour before the middle is cooked. Leave to cool completely in the tin and serve sliced.