Two months ago I visited Yvonne from Baranbali Farm to interview her for my series on local food producers here in the Sunshine Coast. Yvonne is originally from Ireland and she farms sheep, pigs and cattle for ethical meat production, which is something I am also very passionate about.
With the both of us coming from the land our conversations were about the land, livestock, family recipes and of course the bloody weather. Yvonne invited me into her home for a cup of tea and a slice of Irish Brick. A recipe that she grew up eating and now makes for her young kids. The idea of the brick is it slows down her children from eating it too quickly, with the use of oats and it setting quite hard when cooled.
Mind you a slice served warm with a dollop of cream is pure decadence with a cup of tea, which I seem to do once it comes out of the oven. I have made this cake every week since visiting Yvonne, it’s that good and everyone who has come by my house for a cup of tea has sampled it and they always ask for the recipe it too.
Do you have a recipe that people continually ask for?
This is my interpretation of Yvonne’s recipe.
- 250gm butter
- 250 gm sugar
- 2 tbsp of golden syrup
- 250 gm plain flour
- 250gm oats
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tsp of bicarb soda.
- 2 apples, peeled and sliced
- ¼ cup of dates, chopped roughly.
- Preheat your oven to 180’c. Line a 20cm round cake tin with grease proof paper.
- In a small saucepan melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup over a low temperature. You want the sugar to dissolve on the stove.
- Meanwhile in a large mixing bowl place the flour, oats, salt and bicarb soda.
- Peel and chop the apples and chop the dates.
- Once the butter and sugar mixture is melted add it to the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Layer half the mixture into the cake tin and press down to the bottom and sides. Layer the apple slices on the cake mixture lightly pressing down once complete sprinkle the dates over the top.
- Add the remaining mixture and cover the apple and date layer.
- Bake in the oven for 35min or until lightly golden. Allow to cool for five minutes before serving.
- NOTE: You can replace the sugar and golden syrup with 250gm of honey though you will need to add an extra 50gm of plain flour to the recipe.
11 Responses
I’ve never heard of an Irish Brick, but it looks great!
I’ve been waiting for this recipe! I can’t wait to bake it up today! Thank you! It was absolutely delicious when we had it at your place!
the idea of a ‘brick’ doesn’t sound promising… but apples, oats, golden syrup and dates sure do!
This one is new to me but it sounds very tasty!
I’ve never heard of this! Or eaten it, obviously. What a waste my life has been! Looks wonderful – thanks for this.
I found the recipe on another blog and made it today. It was wonderful. Nice and crunchy/chewy due to the oats on the outside with the sweet, tender apples inside. I wonder if anyone has made it with another fruit.
If I run out of dates I used dried mixed fruit. The apples tend to be the best fruit due to their moisture and sugar content.
Thank you for replying. I had wondered whether berries or stone fruits like peaches/apricots/nectarines had even been used. I’ve only got 2 pieces left having eaten the rest of the cake by myself a slice or two at a time. 🙂 I’ll made the cake again one day though I made Italian cannoli this weekend.
here from http://www.orgasmicchef.com/ absolutely wonderful cake cant wait to try it!!! BRAVO!
Claudia, you will love it, its so simple and one bite never seems enough