Roy Creates Irish Brack For Samhain

This week, with Halloween, or All Hallows Eve so close, Roy decided he really wanted to have a look at some traditional Halloween food. He didn't want to cook something which was simply using pumpkin or looked 'spooky' though, he wanted something which really was traditional, so we looked at Samhain Feasts. One food which really caught his imagination was Barm Brack, but the recipes were a little complex. Then I showed him a recipe for Irish Brack, a long time family favourite, from Lillian Beckwith's Hebridean Cookbook which he thought would be perfect. So this week, Roy Creates Irish Brack.

Halloween is actually based on an older, pagan festival called Samhain, a Celtic festival of the dead. It was celebrated on the eve of the last day of their year, October 31, with Samhain itself falling on November 1, as the winter months began. The day was the end of a cycle and also at the same time a new beginning and was actually the most important day in the year! Today, many Irish people still celebrate Samhain, and there are many traditional foods associated with the day, including Colcannon and Boxty (both potato dishes) and soul cakes, a sweet biscuit with Irish designs carved into them. Another very traditional food for Samhain is Barm Brack, a yeasted fruit loaf. Being a yeasted bread, the recipe is quite long and Roy thought children might enjoy a simpler version. If you want to try a traditional recipe, click here.

This cake takes two days to make. You need to soak the fruit first! You are also best leaving the loaf for 24 hours before you cut it, to let the flavours develop.

Ingredients Step 1:

• 100ml cold, strong tea
• 450 grams mixed fruit
• 225 grams brown sugar

Method Step 1:

• In a large bowl, mix your fruit and sugar together.
• Pour the tea over the fruit and sugar, mix and leave overnight.

Ingredients Step 2:

• 225 grams self-raising flour. Although the original recipe uses normal flour, we used wholemeal. It seemed more authentic! It will work fine with white self-raising flour though.
• 2 eggs, well beaten with a fork
• 1 teaspoon mixed spice

Method Step 2:

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees
• Grease and line a loaf tin
• Mix the flour and mixed spice together. You want the spice to be well mixed with the flour so that it will be evenly distributed.
• Stir the flour and spice into the fruit, sugar and tea.

• Add the eggs and mix thoroughly.

• Put the mix into the tin and place the tin on the middle shelf in the oven.
• Bake for two hours, or until cooked (it should bounce back when you touch it and a cake tester inserted into the cake should come out clean)
• Cover the cake with a clean tea towel and leave it to cool before turning the loaf out onto a plate.

• Leave the cake for 24 hours before cutting.
• Serve thin slices, thinly spread with butter or margarine.