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A very simple loaf, good for a tea break - it's easy, only a handful of ingredients, and vegan too! I am told that it's a classic wartime recipe.

I only used one tbsp of sugar, to keep it on the un-sweet side, so you can have a slice of this buttered if you like. But if you'd like it more like a standard cake sweetness, you would simply add more sugar (e.g. double it).

This version of the recipe is adapted from Ganga/LifeTimeCooking whose nice post about it tempted me to do some baking today.

• 160g dried fruit (I used apricot, fig, raisin and date, all leftovers in the back of the cupboard)
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 mug of hot, strong tea (no milk)
• 250g plain flour
• 3 tsp baking powder (or omit this, if you use self-raising flour)
• 1 small tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 small tsp salt

Mix the dried fruit (chop any large ones like apricots) with the sugar and the hot tea. Soak for at least an hour or as long as you like.

Mix the flour, cinnamon, salt in a bowl. Pour the fruit mixture and its tea liquid over these. Mix to a thick batter - I had to add some milk to get it to a thick batter stage.

Bake in a lined loaf tin for 30-40 mins at 180C until skewer comes out clean. Cool 20 mins in the loaf tin, then remove onto a cooling rack. Serve with or without butter (doesn't need it).