Auntie Pat’s Malt Loaf & Taste of New Zealand Winner

Firstly, the lucky winner for the double pass to Taste of New Zealand is Alli or perhaps know as LittleKiwi who is going to donate them to her Mum, congratulations and I hope she enjoys the event. Do tell us all about it! I have emailed you directly for address details of where to send the tickets.

My Auntie Pat used to make this amazing malt loaf which we devoured as kids, which was rather unusual that we loved it because it was quite ‘wholesome’ compared to other cakes we would have enjoyed. I don’t remember the recipe exactly, I just remember her soaking the all bran, sugar and fruit in milk before it was mixed into the cake mixture. Perhaps she used All Bran because there wasn’t as much specialty flours around in those days, I must asked her next time we are home.

So the concept of the cake is certainly Auntie Pat’s, I used All Bran too as I am certain that is what gave it the ‘malt loaf’ taste. Instead of white flour I have used spelt, chopped figs instead of sultanas and added pumpkin sees for crunch.

It’s a lovely tea cake, served with a smear of ‘real’ butter and a pipping hot cuppa.

Ingredients
200g spelt flour
100g All Bran
1 cup apple juice
100g moscavado sugar
100g pumpkin seeds
1 cup sunflower or canola oil
3 small free range eggs
2tsp baking soda
150g figs, chopped

Method
Preheat oven 180C and grease and flour a medium size loaf tin.
Place the All Bran and apple juice into a bowl.
In another larger bowl add the spelt flour, baking soda, pumpkins seeds and chopped figs.
Once the bran has soaked up the apple juice, add the eggs and oil and whisk together.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir with a spoon until combined.
Pour into the prepared loaf tin.
Bake for 35 minutes and test that an inserted skewer comes out clean. If not leave to bake a little longer.
Leave to cool in the tin before removing.