Date and Walnut Tea Bread

This is my first blog for a few months... That doesn't mean to say that I have not been baking, I have tried my hand at a few things over the past weeks, some caramel short bread and made a cake for my a colleagues leaving party which was fun! I was so busy I ended up making the cake, which was a fat less sponge with fresh cream and fruit, at midnight! Something went horribly wrong! The cake was flat and hard! So I did what any baker would do at that time of night... I made a 'posh' Victoria Sponge! HA! It seemed to go down well anyway! If I have learnt anything about baking in the time I have been writing this blog is that time is everything and patience comes in a close second!

Anyway, although I have been doing the odd cake here and there, I have had next to no time to blog! But, that ends here!! The Great British Bake Off has started it's new series and it is all we can talk about!! (as far as the circles I swim in are concerned) Between having a bit more time lately and the added inspiration coming from watching cake telly I am back on the blogging! Also with the weather beginning to cool I can bake with out bursting into flames in my flat!

This is a cake I made fairly recently for a staff picnic, everyone brought something with them, made for a lovely day out. For this I made Date and Walnut Tea Bread. This a lovely autumnal recipe, I saw tea was in the recipe I thought it would be a winner and also ties in with the GBBO and Howard's lovely tea biscuits! this was taking from 'Baking Day' a lovely little baking book from Marks and Sparks! :)

Date and Walnut Tea Bread

Ingredients: 

100g Chopped Dates

1/2 tsp Bicarbonate soda 

Rind of 1/2 a Lemon

100ml Hot Tea

40g Butter

70g Light Muscovado Sugar

1 Egg

125g Self Raising Flour

25g Walnuts

Plus a few more to decorate. 

Method:

• Preheat oven to 180c and line a loaf tin with baking parchment.
• Soak the Dates, Bicarbonate Soda and Lemon in  a bowl with the Tea for 10 minutes.
• Mix the Butter and Sugar then beat in the Egg. 
• Stir in the Date mixture.
• Fold in the Flour and Walnuts and spoon in to prepared tin and top with the decorative walnuts.
• Bake for 35-40 minutes. Cool on wire rack and enjoy with Tea!