PUMPKIN TEA BAG CAKE

Oops on the other heading that I started, Here is a good recipe for a pumpkin cake, and the recipe featured in the ABC Cookbook - "Homecooked".
I made this cake today, as I will be taking it along to the Rare Fruits meeting tomorrow. When compiling the latest newsletter, I put out the challenge for the members to share their favourite pumpkin recipes.

Ingredients for the cake:
1 cup boiling water
4 tea bags
125g butter (4 oz)
1 cup caster sugar
1 tablespoon golden syrup
500g mixed dried fruit (any combination)
1 cup cold mashed pumpkin (press out any excess moisture)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup plain flour - sifted
1 cup S.R Flour - sifted
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Line a 22cm round cake tin with baking paper.
Pour the boiling water onto the tea bags. Stand until almost cold, then squeeze the bags to extract all flavours. Discard the bags.

Put the brewed tea into a saucepan with the butter, sugar, golden syrup and fruit and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer very gently for 5-10 minutes.
Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
Add the pumpkin and eggs, mix in well then stir in the flours, cinnamon and bicarb.
Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 30 minutes, then reduce the heat to 160 degrees C. Cook for a further 1-1 1/2 hours, until cooked when tested with a skewer.
Cool in the tin then turn out. The cake will keep for a week in an air tight container.

As I always have Earl Grey teabags, this is what I use, but you can use whatever tea bags you wish, which would no doubt change the flavour of the cake.