I love making different recipes from different cultures and enjoy sweet baked Irish recipes. Barmbrack is an Irish quick bread that is packed full of raisins, and sometimes cherries. In Irish Gaelic Bairín Breac is Barmbrack where Bairín means bread and Breac means speckled.
I could not find much history on Barmbrack but I did learn that in olden times at Halloween, which coincided with harvest, the fruit would be gathered to make these Christmas Cakes as this was a way to preserve the fruits which were a great luxury. Celtics also hid rings in the barmbrack and whoever got the ring was considered fortunate.
Whatever the reason may be, I enjoy making this dense fruit bread. I’m not sure where I got the recipe, but I love fruitcake and this is just as delicious as our family heirloom recipes! It has a lovely flavor from the whiskey and tea and is such a hearty bread. It tastes great as is or slathered with butter.
Let’s get started!
First, we need to soak the fruit overnight. Combine raisins and cherries.
Pour brewed tea and whisky over top.
It’s seems like a lot of liquid, but the fruit will soak it up!
The next day….
Most of the liquid has been absorbed, and the fruit has plumped up nicely.
Time to make the bread now. Combine egg, brown sugar, marmalade and cinnamon.
Add fruit.
Add flour and baking powder.
Stir well.
Pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake at 350F for 45 minutes to an hour – toothpick inserted in centre should come out clean and should bounce back when lightly touched in the centre. Let cool 30 minutes before removing from pan.
Let cool completely before slicing.
Look at all that fruit! It’s a dense fruitcake but oh so flavorful!
Barmbrack
250g raisins
225g sultanas or currants
25g glacé cherries
300ml cold tea
50ml whisky
1 egg
200g brown sugar
1 tbsp marmalade
1 tsp cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
220g flour
1 tsp baking powder
Soak fruit in cold tea and whisky overnight.
Stir egg, sugar, flour, and spices into fruit mixture until smooth. Pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake at 350F for 80 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean. Remove from pan and let cool. While still warm, brush with marmalade.
enjoy from Our City Homestead to yours