Gluten and Sugar free Fruity Tea Loaf

If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen I have recently become a tea rep for the Brighton born tea brand Bluebird Tea Co. As well as receiving lots of different teas to brew up, I've been challenged to create a monthly recipe to share with you using tea from the extensive Bluebird tea range. I'm pretty exciting about this challenge because more recently I've been well enough to experiment a little more in the kitchen with the help of my mum.

 We have a quest to create sugar and gluten free bakes I can enjoy after drastically changing my diet under the instructions of my doctor and nutritionalist. 

This recipe doesn't have any gluten or sugar, there's not even any sugar substitutes. It's sweetened purely by the ripe banana and tea soaked fruit. Some of you might be thinking that can't be sweet enough but, trust me, it's definitely sweet! This bake is by no means low fructose but it is full of natural goodness making it a very tasty treat! 

Ingredients :

2 teaspoons of tea - I used Bears like Marmalade by Bluebird Tea Co for added orange flavour (discount code below)

200ml just-boiled water

1 unwaxed orange 
2 tbsp orange juice

180g chopped dates 

200g luxury dried fruit- I used raisins and sultanas.  

1 tsp cinnamon 

Half tsp nutmeg

1 ripe medium banana 

2 large free range eggs

2 tbsp skimmed milk

200g all purpose gluten free flour

100g ground almonds

2 tsp baking powder

Method:

Start by putting the tea in a jug and adding 200ml boiled water. Stir and leave to steep for 5+ minutes. Measure out the fruit into a medium bowl. If using loose tea like I did, strain the tea into the bowl of fruit. Add grated orange zest and 2 tablespoons of the juice, mix well. Ideally leave this for several hours or over night if possible. This allows the fruit to soak up the tea.

Preheat the oven to 170°C/Fan 150°C/Gas 3½. 

Use baking parchment or a tin liner to line the base and sides of a loaf tin. 

Sift the flour, ground almonds, baking powder and spices into a large bowl. 

Put the peeled banana, eggs and milk in to a food processor to blend to make a purée. Add to the flour and combine. Then add the soaked fruit and any left over juice. Stir until evenly combined. 

Carefully place the mixture into the lined tin. 

Bake in the centre of the oven for one hour - an hour and 10 minutes or until the cake is a lovely golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 

Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool in the tin for 20 minutes.

Carefully turn the loaf out and leave to cool on a wire rack. 

I like to toast mine and spread it with butter and enjoy it with a good cup of tea! 

You can get 20% off your first Bluebird Tea Co purchase with my code ESTEABIRD35 

Emma Xx 

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