ingredients
makes 24 slices
1/2 pint warm tea, strained
1/2 cup demerara sugar
1/2 pound stoned dates, chopped
1/2 pound tart apples
1 1/3 cups walnuts, chopped
2 1/2 cups malted wheat flour
2 1/2 level teaspoons baking powder
1 egg, beaten
2 red-skinned dessert apples, washed with warm water and dried
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
2 teaspoons clear honey
method
OVEN: Preheat to 180°C (350°F)
1. Pour the tea into a mixing bowl and stir in half the sugar and all the dates. Cover and leave to stand for 4 hours.
2. Line a cake tin 8 inch square with nonstick baking paper.
3. Peel, core and coarsely grate the tart apples and mix into the dates. Set aside 2 tablespoons of the walnuts and stir the rest into the dates.
4. Sift the flour and baking powder into the date mixture, and tip in the grains remaining in the sieve. Add the egg and mix well.
5. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and spread evenly. Core the dessert apples, slice them thinly into rings and overlap them on top of the mixture. Brush with the lemon juice and sprinkle with the remaining sugar. Bake in the heated oven for 1 hour 10 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
6. Take the tin out of the oven, brush the honey over the apples and sprinkle the reserved walnuts on top. Cool the bread in the tin for 20 minutes, then take it out and stand it on a wire rack to cool completely.
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more information
This tea bread keeps well for up to a week in an airtight tin. For serving, cut it in half and cut each half into 12 slices.
