Ingredients

2 tablespoons

Steenberg’s organic green tea, lemon verbena and ginger tea infused in ½ pint hot water ( You are going to use the water only after brewing, discarding the tea leaves)

500g

self raising flour

200g

softened butter

200g

caster sugar

200g

organic dry apricots slice into about 6 pieces each

medium eggs beaten

1 tablespoon

granulated sugar (for tea drizzle not cake mixture)

extra for topping if desired

Steenbergs Green Tea, Lemon Verbena and ginger tea is one of our favourite all day drinking tea and it also makes a very delicious loaf cake with apricots. Tea in fruit cakes has long been popular the classic tea loaf and this is a variation on the theme, no strong black tea here, instead a light fruity sponge infused with tea.

Method

In a mixing bowl add butter and sugar
Beat till you get a creamy smooth mixture in the bowl
Add 4 tablespoons of the tea water only reserving the rest to drizzle after the cake is cooked
Add the eggs and mix well
Finally add the flour and the apricots and mix till there is no visible flour left in the bowl
Pour the cake mixture into an 8” lined cake pan or 3lb loaf tin
Cook for about 45 minutes at 170’c. it is ready when a skewer is inserted into the middle of the cake and when withdrawn comes out clean, if it’s still sticky give the cake another 10 minutes and repeat the skewer test
While the cake is cooking pour the remainder of the tea into a pan and add 1 tablespoon granulated sugar to it (discarding the tea leaves)
Boil for 10 minutes to make a syrup
Pour the tea syrup over the cake immediately after taking it out of the oven
Sprinkle with caster sugar on the top if you like a sweet sugary crunch to the cake
Cool completely before taking the cake out of the tin.
Serve in slices with freshly make coffee or why not serve with one of Steenberg’s many organic loose teas on offer