Tea-Soaked Fruit Loaf
A dense fruit cake with no fat and no eggs. It rides in a pack pocket for days without falling apart.
- calories
- 260
- weight
- 3 oz
- cal / oz
- 87
- protein
- 4 g
- serves
- 8, scales
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 0 min
- total time
- 20 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Snack
- Lunch
- No cook
- Backpacking
- Day hike
- Car camping
- Bikepacking
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- Eat in the bag
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Mixed dried fruit | 2 1/2 cups | sultanas, raisins, chopped dates |
|---|---|---|
| Strong black tea | 1 1/4 cups | brewed double strength, cooled |
| Soft brown sugar | 3/4 cup | |
| Self-raising flour | 2 cups | |
| Ground mixed spice | 2 tsp | |
| Ground cinnamon | 1 tsp | |
| Sea salt | a pinch |
Method
- At home the night before, put the dried fruit and brown sugar in a bowl and pour the cooled tea over. Cover and leave overnight. The fruit should swell and the liquid should nearly disappear.
- Heat the oven to 325F and line a loaf tin with parchment.
- Stir the flour, spices, and salt into the soaked fruit. Mix until no dry flour is left. The batter is thick and sticky, not pourable.
- Scrape it into the tin, level the top, and bake 75 to 90 minutes. A skewer in the center comes out clean.
- Cool completely in the tin before slicing. Warm slices tear; cold ones cut clean.
- Cut into eight thick slices and wrap each one. On the trail, unwrap and eat.
There is no butter, no egg, and no milk in this, which is the whole point. Fat is what turns a baked good rancid and crumbly in a pack. Without it the loaf is dense and slightly chewy, closer to a fruit brick than a cake, and it survives being sat on.
The overnight soak is not optional. Dry fruit in the batter pulls water out of the flour while it bakes and you end up with something dry and tough. Soaked fruit brings its own moisture in, which is also why the loaf stays edible for a week without refrigeration. Bake it at home; nothing about this works on a stove.
Packing
Wrap slices individually in parchment, then bag them together. Parchment keeps them from welding into a block. Keeps about a week in a pack, longer in cool weather.
Variations
- Swap half the tea for dark rum for a version that keeps even longer.
- Add a teaspoon of ground ginger if you want more heat in cold weather.
- Spread a slice with peanut butter at camp if you want the fat and protein.
https://www.baldhiker.com/spiced-vegan-fruit-bread-recipe