"Bara brith soul cakes"

Okay, this isn't quite bara brith, and it's definitely not soul cakes, but it's pretty yummy. It turns out that if you use actual ripe berries in fruit bread, the results are very tasty. This is adapted from a woo-woo neoPagan site. Here's how we made it:

3/4 cups fresh berries [blackberries]
1/2 cup roughly chopped nuts [we used pistachios, recipe calls for hazelnuts]
1 cup brown sugar [we were out: 3/4 c white sugar, 1/4 cup molasses]
1 cup hot strong black tea [copious amounts of Assam, teabag of ginger/lemon]
Splash of flat hard cider, because I had it lying around anyway
1 large egg
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tsp grated nutmeg
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp ground cinnamon
A few tablespoons of chopped candied ginger
Chopped dried candied tangerines
pinch of salt
2 1/2 cups self-rising flour

1. Combine berries, candied fruits, nuts, and brown sugar [molasses/ white sugar mix]. Add the hot tea & cider, stir well, cover and allow to soak for an hour. [or more]
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 12-hole muffin/cupcake pan.
3. Beat egg and melted butter into fruit/tea mixture.
4. Add flour, spices, and salt  in 1/2 cup batches, beating well each time.
5. Pour into cupcake pans.
6. Bake until toothpick comes out clean (around 45 min.)
7. Let cool in the pan before turning out.

I loved these because they were a cross between the density of fruit bread and the brightness of muffins. I may try out some fresh berries in my other fruitcake mixes.