Irish Barmbrack (Cinnamon Raisin Bread)

Name: Irish Barmbrack (Cinnamon Raisin Bread)
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 320 min
Ingredients: 118 ml freshly brewed strong tea (I use 2x black tea bags); 50 ml whiskey (sub with additional tea); 100 g raisins; 100 g sultanas; 240 ml vegan buttermilk; 75 g vegan butter; 460 g all-purpose flour (+ additional 2 tablespoons for soaked fruit); 60 g granulated sugar; 2 ½ teaspoons instant yeast (*see note 1); 1 teaspoon sea salt; 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon; 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg; 2 tablespoons soy milk; 1 tablespoon maple syrup

Barmbrack is one of those things you either LOVE or loathe! Growing up in Ireland, the shops would be chockablock with the stuff every year around Halloween.

If you love the cinnamon and raisin combo and yeasted bread, you will love this eggless and dairy-free version of the classic Irish sweet bread!

Jump to:

🍞 What Is Barmbrack?
📖 Recipe Overview
🧾 Ingredients Needed
🥣 How To Make Barmbrack
🥃 Variations
📝 Recipe Tips
💬 FAQs
🥖 More Yeasted Recipes
Irish Barmbrack (Cinnamon Raisin Bread)

🍞 What Is Barmbrack?

Barmbrack is a traditional Irish bread with tea-soaked fruit. It is soft and fluffy, and often spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and/or ginger.

Irish barmbrack (bairín breac) which translates to "speckled loaf" is also known as "freckle bread" due to the raisins inside. It is served as a Halloween bread during Samhain - an ancient Gaelic pagan holiday that marks the beginning of the dark months and the end of the harvest season.

Traditionally, barmbrack bread would contain items baked inside the loaf which were believed to tell the fortune of the person who received them. Items included a pea, a stick, a piece of cloth, a coin, a bean, and a ring.

For safety purposes, we're not including any inedible items in this vegan brambrack, but if you decide to include them please make sure you first wrap them in parchment paper and make those eating aware!

a slice of buttered barmbrack on an earthenware plate with a drizzle of maple syrup on top and a bite taken out of it.

📖 Recipe Overview

Soft & Fluffy - Using vegan buttermilk and yeast helps to create a pillowy soft consistency that makes this bread delicious served fresh or toasted.
Easy To Make - Made using mostly pantry staples and easy-to-find ingredients, it is especially easy if you have a stand mixer as this does the majority of the work for you!

If you're looking for more delicious Halloween recipes, try my spooky cupcakes, devil's food cake, and spider web cake next.

🧾 Ingredients Needed

This dairy-free barmbrack recipe comes together with pretty straightforward ingredients, a lot of which you may already have in our pantry. Here's what to grab:

ingredients to make vegan barmbrack measured out in bowls on a wooden table with text overlay.

Ingredient Notes

Vegan Buttermilk - This is a simple mixture of soy milk and apple cider vinegar. You can also use almond or oat milk and lemon juice, depending on what you already have to hand.
Spices - I love using ground cinnamon and nutmeg here but feel free to add some dried ginger, allspice, and ground cloves as well. For a more neutral bread, you can omit the spices altogether.
Instant Yeast - This homemade bread calls for instant dry yeast. If you are using active dry yeast, it will need to be activated first. To activate, add the yeast to warm buttermilk with a spoonful of sugar and stir. Once the mixture begins bubbling and foaming (about 5-10 minutes), it’s ready to go!

🥣 How To Make Barmbrack

Find the complete list of ingredients, quantities, and instructions in the recipe card at the end of this post.

Making homemade barm brack is pretty straightforward, and you either make it with a stand mixer or by hand, both versions are explained in detail in the recipe card at the end of the page.

Here's a visual of how it's done:

raisins and sultanas soaking in a bowl with tea and whiskey.

Step 1: Combine freshly brewed tea, whiskey, raisins, and sultanas in a bowl. Cover and let it sit at room temperature overnight or for a minimum of 1-2 hours.

raisins and sultanas draining into a bowl in a fine-mesh sieve.

Step 2: Drain the liquid from the fruit. Then add the soaked fruit to a bowl with 2 tablespoons of flour and toss to combine, set aside.

Step 3: Knead the dough ingredients in a stand mixer for 5 minutes until it forms a soft dough.

kneaded dough in a bowl with soaked raisins and sultanas thrown on top.

Step 4: Add in the drained and flour-coated fruit and mix for another minute to combine.

a dough ball of barmbrack in a bowl before proofing.

Step 5: Place the dough ball into a lightly oiled bowl and cover. Place in a warm part of your kitchen to proof for 1-2 hours until the dough has puffed up and doubled in size.

barmbrack after the first proof, it has doubled in size.

Step 6: Punch the air out of the dough, and mold it into a round ball (it does not need to be perfect). Then place it into the prepared cake pan.

barmbrack in a springform pan before going into the oven.

Step 7: Cover the pan and let it proof in a warm place for another hour until it puffs up. Brush with vegan egg wash and bake for 55-60 minutes until the surface is golden brown.

a freshly baked barmbrack loaf straight from the oven.

Step 8: Cool the bread slightly for 15 minutes. Then carefully remove the bread from the springform pan and place it on a wire rack to cool completely.

🥃 Variations

While I don't recommend you change the ratios of dry and wet ingredients in this barmbrack brad, there are lots of additions you can include to tweak it to your liking. Here are some ideas:

Add zest - You can add 50g of dried mixed peel or a tablespoon of freshly grated orange zest or lemon zest for a fresh and zingy twist.
Alternate the fruit - Depending on what you have to hand, dried cranberries, blueberries, currants, or glace cherries, are all lovely in this loaf bread. Just make sure you check the cherries are vegan as they sometimes contain the artificial color, carmine.
Alcohol-Free - You can omit the whiskey altogether and replace it with additional strong black tea if preferred.
Add trinkets - You can bake items inside the bread such as a ring. As mentioned above, please make sure you wrap them in parchment first and make those consuming the bread aware!

📝 Recipe Tips

Save the liquid from the tea soak. To avoid food waste, you can use this to make iced tea or add it to recipes like rice pudding or porridge. Just remember the alcohol content in case you plan on giving it to kids, opt for the alcohol-free version of the recipe.

Store yeast in the freezer. You can easily extend the lifespan of your yeast packets by several months or more by tucking them in the door of your freezer.

Knead the dough for the specified period of time. This step is essential for developing the gluten strands in the dough, which will strengthen the dough and help it hold onto the gas bubbles created by the yeast for a fluffy bread.

💬 FAQs

What is the difference between tea brack and barmbrack?

While both are traditional Irish recipes served around autumn, barmbrack is a yeasted bread that is speckled with dried fruit.

Tea brack, on the other hand, is a quick bread. It is much sweeter and has a moist, rich crumb, more similar to fruit cake.

Can I freeze Irish barmbrack?

Absolutely! Place the loaf in an airtight container or wrap well with plastic wrap and freeze for up to a month. You can defrost it in the oven so it tastes fresh again. Simply sprinkle a little water on the surface and bake at 175C for 10 minutes until warmed throughout.