No-Added-Sugar Dried Fruit Loaf Cake

📝 Ingredients

• 80 g dried apricots
• 80 g raisins
• 80 g dried figs
• 1 black tea bag + 200 ml boiling water
• 2 eggs
• 100 g apple compote with no added sugar
• 2 tbsp rapeseed oil
• 200 g wholemeal flour
• 1 sachet baking powder (11 g)
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 40 g walnut halves
• 1 pinch of salt

🍴 Utensils

• Kettle or saucepan
• Mixing bowl
• Whisk
• Chopping board and knife
• 24 cm loaf tin
• Baking paper

📖 Steps

1. Cut the dried apricots into quarters and the dried figs into six, removing the small hard stem from the figs. Put them in a mixing bowl with the raisins, separating any pieces that are stuck together.
2. Steep the tea bag in the boiling water for 4 min, then remove it, squeezing it out, and pour the hot tea over the dried fruit. Cover and leave to soak for at least 30 min, ideally 2 h: the fruit should become plump and soft.
3. Preheat the oven to 170 °C (160 °C fan). Line the loaf tin with baking paper, leaving the paper overhanging on the long sides so you can lift the cake out easily.
4. Add the eggs, compote and rapeseed oil to the fruit and its tea, without draining: the remaining tea is part of the batter. Whisk for 1 min to mix the eggs in well.
5. Add the wholemeal flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt, then whisk just until no dry flour remains. The batter is thick and very fruity: that's normal. Fold in the roughly broken walnuts by hand.
6. Pour the batter into the tin and smooth the top. Bake for 50 to 55 min on the middle shelf. If the top browns too quickly after 30 min, cover it with a sheet of baking paper.
7. Check it's done by inserting a knife blade into the centre: it should come out dry, or just moist from the fruit, with no raw batter stuck to it. Bake for another 5 min if needed.
8. Leave to cool for 15 min in the tin, then turn out and leave to cool completely before cutting into 8 slices: while still warm, the cake is fragile and crumbles when cut.