A beautifully moist, rich, sweet tea bread - perfect for a Sunday with a cuppa! A great way to use up over ripe bananas. The longer the fruit mixture soaks in the tea the stronger the taste, so if you have time to soak overnight, even better! Why not experiment with different tea flavours?!
Prepare the tea by putting two tea bags into a mug and filling the mug with boiling water. Leave to brew for longer than you usually would, then remove tea bags. Leave tea to cool to room temperature.
Put the sultanas, raisins or fruit combination of your choice into a large bowl and pour the cold tea over the fruit. Mix well to ensure even coverage. Leave to soak for as long as possible - over night is ideal, however 2-3 hours will be fine. The longer the fruit soaks, the more moist, juicy and tea tasting the final result will be!
Combine the flour, caster sugar (if using), egg and mashed banana into a large mixing bowl. Mix well.
Once the tea/fruit mixture has soaked, add to mixing bowl with other ingredients. Stir thoroughly to ensure the fruit is evenly distributed throughout the mixture.
Pour into a well greased or baking paper lined loaf tin.
Sprinkle with sweet brown sugar if wanted
Bake for 1 hour at 180C or until knife comes out clean. Sometimes needs 5-10 minutes longer.
Leave to cool slightly in the tin, then remove from tin. Can be sliced and enjoyed whilst warm or leave to cool!