Cake in the House | Mulled Wine & Cranberry Tea Bread

Declare mulled wine season open and seek out fresh cranberries for this spiced cake (it’s also a good way to use up leftovers, come January).

Serves 12

A wine-mulling spice bag*
200ml light, fruity red wine
1 tbsp clear honey
75g ready-to-eat dried figs, chopped
50g crystallised stem ginger, chopped
75g blanched almonds, chopped
50g dried cranberries
50g dried sour cherries
100g light brown soft sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
Zest of 2 oranges
100g fresh cranberries
225g self-raising flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground allspice

For the topping:
75g dried cranberries (or dried sour cherries, or sultanas)
2 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
4 tbsp redcurrant jam

1 Start by lining a buttered 7cm deep loaf tin with baking paper. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 160C/140C Fan/Gas 2-3.

2 Place the spice bag in a pan with the red wine and honey and slowly bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Leave over a very low heat for 5 mins, then set aside.

3 Mix together the figs, ginger, almonds, dried cranberries, cherries and sugar. Remove the spice bag from the mulled wine, then pour the warm wine over the dried fruit and leave to soak for 30 mins.

4 Stir the eggs, orange zest and the fresh cranberries into the soaked dried fruit. Next, sift in the flour, cinnamon and allspice and mix well.

5 Spoon the mixture into the prepared loaf tin and bake for 55 mins. Leave to cool in the tin, turning out once cool.

6 To make the topping, gently heat the cranberries, orange juice and jam in a pan over a low heat, stirring until dissolved.

7 Brush the top of the loaf with the topping, then spoon the cranberries along the middle of the loaf and leave to cool before serving.

Cook’s note: If you can’t get dried cranberries or dried sour cherries you can swap for the same weight of sultanas

Taken from Comfort: A Winter Cookbook (Ryland Peters & Small). Photography: © Ryland Peters & Small

Buy this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

More bakes for this month…

More from our blog…

Recipe | raspberry macarons with lady grey tea

Photography: Isobel Wield

Is there a finer pairing than tea and cake? Tea and macarons, perhaps

Named in honour of Mary Elizabeth Grey, the wife of the original Earl Grey, Lady Grey is a black tea scented with oil of bergamot as well as lemon and orange oils. Invented in the 1990s, it is great served alongside these moreish raspberry macarons.

Makes about 30
220g icing sugar
160g ground almonds
4 large egg whites
A pinch of salt
95g caster sugar
Red food colouring gel
200g high fruit content raspberry jam

How to make

1 Line 2 or 3 baking sheets with baking parchment and draw 4cm circles (spaced a little apart) as templates so that all the macarons come out the same size.
2 Blitz the icing sugar and almonds in a food processor until very fine, then push the mixture through a fine meshed sieve. Set aside.
3 Whisk the egg whites and salt together until stiff and glossy. Add the sugar, about a third at a time, beating each time until the eggs are stiff and glossy and all the sugar has been incorporated.
4 Carefully, but thoroughly, fold the almond mixture into the egg whites, until fully incorporated but still light. Fold in enough food colouring to achieve the desired pink colour.
5 Spoon the mixture into a large piping bag and pipe circles onto the parchment, following the circles you drew earlier.
6 When all the macarons have been piped, take hold of the baking sheet and tap it firmly on the work surface 2 or 3 times to knock out any air bubbles.
7 Preheat the oven to 140C/120C Fan/Gas 1-2 and leave the baking sheets to stand for 30 mins.
8 Bake the macarons for about 15 minutes, until the shells are crisp and they have grown little ‘feet’ underneath. Remove them from the oven and set aside to cool. Once completely cool, sandwich with the raspberry jam and serve. For one pot of tea Use 5 tsp of Lady Grey tea and allow to brew for 5 minutes. Serve with a slice of lemon.

This recipe is taken from Tea & Cake by Liz Franklin (Ryland, Peters & Small). Photography: Isobel Wield. It’s one of several tea and cake pairings we have featured in our April issue.

Buy this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

More our April issue…

More cake for you…