Tea loaves and fruit cakes

A decent afternoon tea can easily spoil one’s appetite for supper, but from time to time this is a sacrifice well worth making. Amongst my own indispensable teatime treats, including small but generously filled sandwiches, warm scones and home-made preserves and dainty pastries, there will always be a tea loaf or a fruit cake. Moist yet substantial, these are big cakes, designed to be eaten after the scones and sandwiches, and before the sponge cakes and the dainties.

Because of their sturdy quality, these are perfect cakes for picnics and outdoor teas, as well as for hampers. As a thoughtful gift, you might want to consider making up an afternoon-tea hamper of home-made produce. Include a pot or two of jam, a fruit cake or tea loaf, some shortbread, a jar of clotted cream – if for fairly immediate consumption – and a cellophane packet of home-made scone mixture, together with a recipe and instructions for use. A pretty teapot and packet of single-estate tea complete the gift.