Fruit Bread Recipe

A wonderfully comforting fruit bread, perfect for a wet and cold day like today

This fragrant, sweet-scented bread is a family favourite. The recipe was given to me by a dear friend and relation who was a superb baker: she could take a few store-cupboard ingredients and turn them into something decadent and delicious.

Thus began my love affair with baking

She taught me a great deal about baking, and above all she took the fear out of it.

She showed me how simple it really was. As a young mother I was keen to make delicious treats for the family, but recipe books daunted me, as everything looked so complicated, a feeling many home bakers will recognise.

She showed me how easy it is to adapt recipes and make them my own. Thus began my love affair with baking.

I have made this fruit bread countless times over the years, and its enduring place in our kitchen I owe to the remarkable lady who encouraged me to bake.

The beauty of this bread is its simplicity: there is no need for an electric mixer. All the ingredients go into one bowl, and a wooden spoon is all you need to mix them.

We often have this fruit bread for breakfast, with a cup of freshly ground coffee, and it is just as good with afternoon tea.