Inspired by Pete’s iPhone for a cake competition I want to talk about All Bran loaf.
I have entered my All Bran loaf into this competition. More specifically, I have offerred a mini wall of All Bran loaves, one for Pete and another 5 for him to give away to friends.
All Bran loaf is simple and delicious. Introduced to me by my mum more than thirty years ago, it’s time to pass it on to others. It’s not a secret recipe, it probably came of the side of a packet in the 60s or 70s but it is incredibly simple and cheap to make.
Just five ingredients, measured in American Cups (big mugs in my case) and almost completely fool-proof.
But there’s a problem. Until people eat it they always, and I mean always, look at me funny. It just doesn’t sound particularly appetising. My other names for it aren’t any better. “Fat Free Fruit Loaf” just makes it sound tasteless and dry when it’s neither of those things (but it is almost fat free).
And, ultimately, the All Bran is the key ingredient and I feel it deserves it’s place in the title.
So I’m taking another approach. Rather than try and find an appealing name for my delicious fruit loaf I am going to show you some of the magic. Because it is magic. It’s a very low fat fruit cake that is so easy to make the you will immediately be able to memorise the recipe forever.
Tempted? It’s amazingly tasty and a doddle to make. Here’s how.
I’ve created 13 steps below which may make it sound complicated. It really isn’t. If you can’t be bothered with all that complexity then follow this:
Throw a mug each of of All Bran, milk, flour, dried fruit and sugar into a bowl. Stir it all up, put in in a tin and cook til done.
It’s easy and delicious and cheap. Go make one. Probably not a competition winner as it’s not a glamorous cake but it is special to me. Bizarrely I have no particular need for a 1st generation iPhone. I already have a newer model than that so in the unlikely scenario where my humble little loaf won then I would, in some way, repeat the exercise.. i.e. move it on again for another cake. I’m more interested in cakes than iPhones really. Anyway, on with the recipe.
How to make All Bran Loaf
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Assemble your ingredients and implements.
You’ll need All Bran, milk, self-raising flour, sugar and some dried fruit (I prefer sultanas). You’ll also need a mixing bowl, a large-ish mug (or small bowl, whatever) a spoon to mix it all up and a tin of some kind to bake it in.
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Fill the mug with All Bran and pour that into the mixing bowl
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Fill the mug with milk and pour that over the All Bran
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Go have a cup of tea. You need to let the milk sink in for a few minutes (anything more than about 2 minutes is fine)
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Fill the mug with self-raising flour and pour that into the bowl
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Fill the mug with sultanas (or your dried fruit of choice) and pour that into the bowl
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Half fill the mug with brown sugar and add to the mix (I find a whole mug of sugar makes things a bit over-sweet. Add sugar according to your own taste).
This should leave you with something looking like this.
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Stir it all up
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Pour this into a tin. I like loaf shaped tins but it really doesn’t matter. Actually I have a fancy porcelain one but really anything will do. Don’t forget to grease it. The easiest way to do that is to find one of those slips of greaseproof paper from the top of most ‘is it nearly butter’ type concoctions and wipe it over the surface of your tin.
If you pour the mixture into a shallower round tin then reduce the cooking time a bit. For the geeks out there, the bigger the surface area the less time you need to cook it.
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Stick it in the oven. Lowish – About Gas 4.
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Leave it alone for about an hour and a half or so to cook.
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Check it by taking out of the oven and sticking a knife in it. If the knife comes out clean then it’s done. If not then put it back in the oven and wait a bit longer. Repeat every few minutes or so until you’re happy.
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Take out of oven and eat.
This one came out a little wonky. My old, uneven oven tends to do that but it really doesn’t matter. This cake has no pretensions, isn’t fancy. It’s a quick, easy, delicious, everyday kind of cake.
Really, go make one. I challenge you to have a go. You won’t regret it.
7 Responses
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Yes, it came of the back of a packet. I kept the cardboard cutting for years. What is even more impressive is if you subsitute the cow’s milk for soya. Vegan! And if you sub some of the dried sultanas etc for apricots, dates, cherries, it becomes luxury vegan apricot (or whatever) loaf.
I hope this wins. My offering of melt-in-the-middle organic brownies didn’t even make the list.
Blogging, hah!
This is a recipe I just love and like you, my mum made it in the 70’s. I have tried other twists; replace the milk with a cup of black tea (without milk, just a bag in a mug) and dates and orange zest. This makes it totally fat free and like the comment above, suitable for vegans. I have also made it with something called Splendor – which is one of those sugar substitutes that is granular so you use the same amount but replace the calories by about 300%! I have also soaked the All-Bran in diluted apple juice and used dried apple pieces with a touch of cinnamon. My kids love this. I have also changed the flour to wholemeal. Funny thing is you can change everything about this – EXCEPT the All-Bran! Have tried it with Weetabix and Special K and other cereal but it just don’t work…. And when (if there is any left!) it loses its incredible moistness, try it toasted and buttered….oh yeah!
What a simple and wicked explaination of bran loaf…if only delia could keep receipes so simple. Am going to try this tomorrow. Never being any good at cakes…so fingers crossed! will let you know how it turns out.(I’m a bit like the mum from Butterflies!)
I heard about this cake at work, and came home to google it – whatever combo of words I used brought this page up first, and I’m glad it did! Me and mum made this last weekend using glace cherries, apricots, sultanas, currents and raisens, and it was fantastic!
Thanks very much (From somebody in Wolves!) for posting this.
These instructions are so clear. I tried the recipe today, using double quantities and 2 tins. The results are great although I’m tempted to spread a little butter on the slices… It really is more of a tea-bread than a cake.
I used a Tesco raisin, sultana and cranberry dried fruit mix and confess to sprinkling little Cointreau over it a quarter of an hour before stirring everything up together.
I also used those specially prepared paper cake tin liners. They save greasing the tins and with this fat-free recipe my tins didn’t even need washing afterwards.
This recipe is going in my special book.. Thank you, Josh Hart!
I remember mum making it in the 70s and hating it then.
Have started making it again recently and adapting. My best combo is one mug of chopped walnuts and dried apricots and an inch of grated fresh ginger
thank you josh for posting this, i made it years ago and forgot the recipe, your cup method saves me weighing everything on my electronic scales! so even saves electricity lol.
i like your recipe best, don’t think i’d like it with posh fruits in it, i’m tempted to make it with soya milk and have it vegan like other people have said. This will go in my special book too Marilyn