Traditional Irish Pumpkin Brack

This recipe is inspired by the traditional Irish Barmbrack or tea loaf. It’s soft, dense, moist, and tasty! And it’s made from pumpkin – and therefore Halloween-themed, in my opinion! It’s perfect for this time of year as the need for warm drinks increases, and squashes and pumpkins are in season!

Makes one loaf.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 60 minutes
Serves: 4

Method

• Preheat oven to 325F
• Lightly grease a bread loaf tin (8 x 4 in or something like that) and line it with parchment paper. (I forgot to do this actually…)

• Weigh out and prepare all your ingredients.

• Add the lemon zest and juice, raisins, and ground almonds to the pumpkin flesh in a large bowl.

• Add the baking soda to the vinegar in a food mixing bowl.

• Add the sugar to this and beat using an electric whisk for 2-3 minutes until pale and creamy.

• Add this to the pumpkin mixture and lightly stir.

• Sieve the flour and add to the mix along with the spices. Fold it all in together until well combined.

• Using an electric whisk beat the chickpea brine until it holds soft peaks like what egg whites would do.

• Stir a heaped tablespoon of this into the brack mixture to loosen it and then fold the rest in as lightly as possible.

• Pour the mixture into a prepared loaf tin and even out the surface.

• Bake it in the oven for around 1 hour at the temperature recommended.

• Check if ready by inserting a skewer or knife into the center. It should come out clean, but if it doesn’t, leave it in for longer and turn down the heat if it is starting to burn on the outside. Remove the loaf from the tin and leave it in the oven at an even lower heat near the end to ensure thorough baking.

• Then let it cool on a wire rack before slicing. Don’t be tempted to slice into it before it cools! It could fall apart!

• Enjoy with some soy butter and a cup of tea or coffee.