Check out the recipe: www.allrecipes.com/Recipe/272197/Irish-Tea-Cake-Barmbrack/

6:45 "I just continued eating and being confused." That could be the title of my autobiography

I have barmbrack every year. While not conventionally attractive, there is a unique visual appeal in all the oddness of the appearance. This description is also on my dating profiles.

I think this is the first time I've seen a cooking show where they actually failed in making what they wanted. It's refreshing. Cooking's all about experimentation and sometimes you get a dud. But that's part of the fun.

I loved Chef John calmly and smoothly explaining his descent into panicking through each ending step before the confusion.

As my grandmother used to say, "It's meant to be eaten not looked at!"

Remember chef there are no failures only realizations of alternative outcomes.

Truer words: "It's never a good sign when something looks exactly the same cooked as it did when it went into the pan." Keeping the faith here in Maryland, Chef John. I believe in you and your attempts at visual distraction!

I think half Irish whiskey and the tea would have made that fruit brighten up the recipe more. Also... any whole wheat types of flour will leaden it down... a lot. Soda with that citrus, or more baking powder, would have helped it rise better. Plus, yes, more batter to fruit ratio. :) Otherwise it looks like something I'd eat with a big cuppa. :)

I love your humility, Chef John. No scrambling to film and post something else, just an open admission that even in your kitchen things don't always work out.

You're the inspiration to keep going, even if I think it won't come out. But even if it doesn't, that's me cooking and learning!

I guess we learned: Don't judge a *brack* by its cover...

Am Irish, can confirm we love brack 😁 especially at Halloween time.

I'm sorry to say that you forgot the baking soda and you have to use a good Irish whiskey. But I have to add that are no bad Irish whiskies.

You are a joy and delight to watch, Chef John. Whether it came out or not.. fruit cake with butter and a hot cuppa is perfect. Also slices can be fried in a skillet with a bit of butter till crisp, and eaten with a dollop of whipped vanilla cream. Ain't nothing wrong with that. ❤❤

What we in the Caribbean will call this is ....sweet bread...the only ingredient missing is blended coconut...with the milk still in ..not drained out...and a little more flour would have done the trick...

I really do appreciate these kinds of videos the most, experiments that may or may not have failed. It shows the trials and errors that happens to even the most experienced chefs, and that you just have to experiment sometimes.

Excellent recipe, but I do have a small critique. With tea, you never want to press the leaves after steeping, because this releases tannins which makes the tea sour and bitter. You may not think this affects the pastry too much, but try it at home. Leave the moisture in the bag, you won't miss it. Love your appreciative follower.

Chef John you are simply the best. Great food that mortals can do with some success. Plus you're not full of yourself. My wife and I cook your great stuff with modest success. Thank you.

This looks weirdly delicious. I think I'll make it with the kids this weekend.

Oh Chef John, you manage to inform us while making us laugh throughout your videos. Bravo!

I love your videos chef john. 💖

Man, listening to Chef John's smooth and soothing voice just before bed. I'm sure I'll wake up a completelly better man tomorrow!

Chef John's honesty is refreshing

It's kind of a relief to see that even Chef John doesn't always get super results or even know what's going on sometimes... :)

My favorite food channel. Sometimes I put these videos on and take a nap after work. Very relaxing.

Hello .....I tried making this and other dishes you've uploaded......and I know mine probably wasn't as delicious as yours but guess what.....at the end I still got lots of compliments. Thank you!

Food Wishes is the best!

I love this. It's experimental nature i take on whenever i cook something new in my kitchen. Thank you for the video.

We also got this during the Halloween time of year...and a 'ring' was hidden in the batter for a lucky person to find after it was baked..

I love any kind of fruit cake if its moist and the flavors are balanced. I will try this

NEVER stop what you do my friend! Love the videos!!!

I love that you posted this even though it didn’t turn out as expected. It gives hope to us mere culinary mortals!

I will always love Chef John for posting videos where he's not even sure if it's good or not. Every chef has these moments, and its important to teach people that not making picture perfect food every time is perfectly normal, and sometimes works out for the best. Experiment, taste, adjust, improve.

Your recipes always make me smile, Chef John! Bravo! Go raibh maith agat! (It's Irish for Thank you)

yet another reason I love & adore Chef John, he's so good laughing through the fail .... (scratch that) less than perfect looking, but highly entertaining final products. I raise my glass to you Chef John!

Listening to you is a true pleasure ! I really enjoyed watching this video.

Hello Chef. I just wanted to say that you are the yin to Almazons yang. With Almazons channel I get nature, no speaking, and the sounds of mmm mmm good. With you I get the sound of your calming voice and some more, mmm mmm good. Plus all the other good stuff I get too. These are the things I do for sleep. Thanks 😴 Completely a compliment too!

Chef John is my personal hero. Taught me so much. Wish his website was a better machine

Chef John that is a wonderful Irish Tea Cake. Never seen or heard of this before but I want to make it. Thank you for sharing

chef john, get the hell out of my head. because it was only yesterday that i read that word "barmbrack" for the first time, and TODAY youre delivering a recipe video...can't be coincidence!

This is so weird. I heard about this cake last week and was looking for a recipe and you just made a video for it... And thank you so much for posting it even if you consider it a failure. It makes me feel better about my failures in the kitchen.

Yum. Love your channel and recipe choices.

Great recipe! I would love to see more pasta salads, Chef! We're addicted to your macaroni salad. More lunchtime pasta salads, please!

I just finished making this and eating this. I was intrigued by the recipe when I saw it. I did add the baking soda as suggested in the blog post. I did not have any whiskey so I added a third tablespoon of the tea. The bread looked and smelled fabulous while cooking. When I got to cut into it it was heavy but not overly dense. It was not as sweet as I had expected. It was very very good and filling. I am looking forward to trying it again with the whiskey. I recommend this bread for a holiday treat or gift!

Chef John on Irish Tea Cake: "I don't know what I did but it tasted good." We're here with your journey Chef. We learn from the ones that attempt.

I think a quick broiler toasting on those buttered slices would step the results up a notch or two. Otherwise, it is PERFECT.

the honesty... i love it

I will definitely try to make this for my family to share. Love your videos.

I definitely want to give this a try!

Awesome Tea Cake 👌👌 look so delicious 👌👌 Thank You for sharing!

😂 loved this one, I'll have to try to make a tea brick sometime.

Irish cooking is humble. I look at that and I'm still salivating!

Thank you. I always enjoy your videos. 😋

Always look forward to a new Chef John recipe!

This looks wonderful! I want to make this so I saved your video.

Chef John could read me literally anything and it would make my day. 😊

Looked great to me! That’s probably how it looked in the beginning in the old days! Toasted with butter and tea! Yummy 😋

It looked good to me. I like dense, moist cakes. And I love tea. So, I'll give this one a try. Thanks for the recipe.

Your outcome is a perfect taste of home baked goods. Whatever it looks like, better than any shop bought resurrection. Well done chef John and a very happy Sunday Patrick's Day. This cake is a Halloween dish, but hey why not. Delicious any time. X

LMAO!! Nothing like being confused by your own creations... HAHA!!! I love this! And as Always... Enjoy!

Fantastic narrative on this video!

It looks perfect! ❤

Well chef your honest. I have to give you a thumbs up just for that. Truth be told I always look forward to watching anything your posting.

Me at 3:54 : Wow, that looks like a lot of fruit! Chef John at 3:57 : "And if you're thinking, 'that looks like a lot of fruit...'" *CHEF JOHN IS A MIND READER WHAT KIND OF SORCERY IS THIS*

I would certainly give thus a try.

SO NICE TO LISTEN HOW YOU REMINDE US OF THE OLD RECIPES..we tasted as children..at GRANNIES HOUSE

Nicely done. Enjoyed this as much as the delicious food you put out. Thanks for that, and this too. :-)

this reminds me of old style fruitcake but light on the alcohol

My wife made this last night, STUNNING! She has been named Star Baker in our household.

I love the fact that even though you thought it was ugly and wasn't working out how you thought it would, you went ahead and edited, narrated and posted the video anyway. Most chefs or KZfaq cooks would have scrapped it for something prettier. Good lesson to be learned here. That being said, I probably won't be trying this recipe 😁

I could see where this might not be to everyone's taste but I absolutely love this sort of dense loaf packed with dried fruit

Chef John, I just.love your channel. Not only for your great recipes and techniques but for your great sense of humor!!!👍👍👍👍👍. And my food wish is a meat borek. More specifically a Bosnian meat borek. 😁

It looks amazing to me. Reminds me of a Christmas fruit cake.

This video was great!🤣🤣thanks for showing how I feel half the time when trying a new recipe. Thanks for the laugh.👍BY THE WAY YOUR PITA BREAD RECIPE IS FAIL PROOF, THE ONLY ONE I USE🙏

you, sir chef, are hilarious. love love love

The narration of this video is awesome 😆

I think your brack ended up looking well! Thanks for the recipe, now I'm craving some

I've had this before and can attest to its unappetizing appearance and delicious flavor. This wound up looking exactly like what I had so I doubt you screwed it up. I love fruitcakes of all descriptions, so I may have to make this.

Love all your videos

Live this show you are amazing.❤️😊👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

This is not the sort of cake I would try to make myself, but I must say it is a joy to listen to you! :-D

Hey chef! I made a fruit cake in December using a very old better homes and gardens cook book. It came out good but I enjoyed it most by toasting the slices in my toaster oven. Very good! I thought about that when you sliced this one.

I discovered this bread after hearing it talked about in the book "Rhett Butler's People" and I made it and it's very good!

Well, we’ve all had our kitchen mysteries and disasters..... Yours, Chef John, looks like a cross between meatloaf and dog food, but I’m so convinced that it tasted delicious because all the ingredients were harmonious. I want to give this a try (after researching barmbrack).

looks like every tea cake my dad ever makes. I'd say this was a success!

It is just too interesting not to try it so I am going to. I think it sounds amazing even if it was not as attractive as we have grown accustomed to seeing here from Chef John. Thank you so much for the video. We still have snow on the ground here in NE and this and a cup of tea for breakfast sound incredible.

Hahahaha 😂. I adore your honesty. I would try this . As long as someone else cooked it. Lol.

It's just like us Irish people. We don't look so good but we taste GREAT.

I love this channel more than I love america.

This actually turned out well . This type of traditional cake is supposed to be very dense and firm . It is made in Wlaes , Scotland and Northern England as well as Ireland . The Welsh call it Bara Brith but it is the same as Barm Brack . No orange or peel though !

My grandmother was Irish and made this occasionally. You used to much butter and missed the backing soda. Really like your channel, thanks.

Reminds me of flat dense Irish soda bread Dad used to make. Didn't look like anything but butter and with stew it was excellent.

thank you for your honesty !!!!--just once I would like to see a TV COOK say "I put too much salt in and not enough pepper,,"--Or this is the Worst Tasting Roast !!!

I need this for breakfast!

I'm willing to give your Irish Tea Cake a try. I have a apple cake recipe very similar to this . The only liquid in the recipe is a large egg, softened butter, and whatever moisture is in the diced apples. Very stiff batter. Wonderfully moist cake though and best yet mine rises, LOL. Just teasing Chef. I always figure when I try a recipe I've never tried before that as long as it ends up tasting good, when it's done, it is a winner. By my thinking , per your own words, it was a winner.

Oh I love barmbrack! Need to make some for St. Patrick’s day! May not be traditionally eaten then but the first time I had it was on St. Patty’s! I love it when ugly food tastes incredible... this is right up there with stroganoff... grey and gross looking but SO delicious!

Chef, this is a very brave dish!

Hahaha!!! I just made a comment a few minutes ago that you crashed me up and in this video you REALLY cracked me up this time!!! You are hilarious chef John!!! And we’ll definitely make this one soon too! It looks to me like bread pudding and with the butter that is how I sometimes eat Jamaican’s bulla cake! Thank you for the recipe and the laughs!!

I think it looks delicious!