I know I can "NEVER" eat/make black pudding, so I'll stick with chocolate.
Here is an

EASY PEEZZEE RHUBARB DESSERT

4 cups chopped up rhubarb washed and dried
dumped into a 9x13 greased cake pan spread it around
pour/sprinkle 1 cup sugar over all the rhubarb
pour/sprinkle 1 small or large box of jello over that
I use all flavors it doesnt matter Our fav is peach
then in another bowl mix a cake mix according to the box and pour over all others
Our fav is choc and peach jello
bake according to cake mix box directions
let cool a bit
then slice a big piece
scoop it out and turn it over on plate so the hot drizzling rhubarb/sugar/jello ozzes down the sides
top with ice cold vanilla ice cream or cool whip or whipped cream what ever you have
our fav is vanilla ice cream
easy and delicious
great hot, warm or cold
frigerate it after it cools.
Enjoy, Bren for SD

Rita, yeast in a 'barm' brack doesn't surprise me, since barm is an old term to refer to fermenting yeast and to be 'barmy' is to be suffering from a surfeit of fermeted products. My recipe comes from the Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook (Mum has a copy, & I got my own after I got married) Their Barm brack recipe is

12 fl oz cold tea
7oz soft brown sugar
12 oz mixed dried fruit
10 oz self-raising flour
1 egg.

I always chuck in extra fruit, because I remember as a small child that dried fruit was exactly that dried, and in a handful of sultanas you would only get 1 or 2 that would squish between the fingers, nowadays they all squish between the fingers ergo - they are not as dried as they used to be. Therefore you need more fruit today to get the sameish number of them if the recipe is over 20 years old. Anyway I like lots of fruit.

The first time I made some for the in-laws, FIL insisted on trying a slice fried with his breakfast, it works nearly as well as christmas pudding

PS do you think Renata has got the fruit into the tea to soak yet?

I thought that I had posted my variation of 'Barm brack', but that post seems to have disappeared into the ether - but then it was late at night. So to recap, my recipe comes from the Hamlyn All Colour Cook Book and doesn't contain yeast despite the name.

12 fl oz cold tea
7 oz soft brown sugar
12 oz mixed dried fruit
10 oz self-raising flour
1 egg

Prepared the same way as Rita's un less you want to try my short cut (because I usually forget to set the fruit to soak ) where by I simmer the fruit in the tea and sugar for about 1/2 hour then add the flour & egg - just be careful that the mixture is not too hot when you add the egg in case it cooks it at the wrong time. In one loaf tin the cooking time is approx 1 hr 45 min, in 2 tins, about 1 hour.

I also chuck in extra fruit, because when this book first came out, you could grab a handful of sultanas and only one or two of them would squish between the fingers, these days in a handful of sultanas they all squish, therefore you are obviously not getting so many fruit to the pound because they are not as dried as they used to be

Bren -- here is the Rhubard recipe and it is my favourite of all the rhubarb things I have made--

Rhubarb Custard Bars

2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup cold butter or margarine


Combine flour and sugar. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Press into a greased 9x13 inch pan. Bake at 350 F for 10 minutes.

FILLING

2 cups sugar
7 tablespoons flour
1 cup whipping cream
3 beaten eggs
5 cups finely chopped rhubarb

Combine sugar and flour. Whisk in cream and eggs. Add rhubarb. Pour over the baked crust. Bake at 350 F for 45 minutes or until custard is set.

TOPPING

2 packages (3 ounce) cream cheese softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup whipping cream, whipped

Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Fold in whipped cream. Spread over top of cooled bars. Store in the refrigerator. Enjoy.

Renata, traditionally we don't use dates in a tea-brack - but you can put whatever fruit you like into it.

Here's the recipe:

RITA'S IRISH TEA BRACK

16oz dried fruit (we just use raisins and sultanas)
16 fl oz strong black tea
4 oz soft brown sugar
4 oz granulated white sugar
1 egg
14 oz plain white flour (without raising agent)
1 heaped teaspoon mixed spice
1 teaspoon baking powder

Put the raisins and sultanas into a bowl, cover with the tea and leave overnight to allow the fruit to plump up. The next day preheat the oven to 160C/320F. Line two 2lb loaf tins with baking parchment. Add the sugar and egg to the fruit and tea and combine well. Sieve the flour, mixed spice and baking powder and add it to the fruit mix stirring thoroughly. The mixture should be softish. You can add a little more flour if it seems too runny or a little more tea, or milk, if it seems to dry. Divide the mixture between the two loaf tins. Bake at 160C/320F for 30 minutes and then turn down the oven to 150C/300F for a further 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack - if you can wait that long - and serve with butter and a cup of tea. Enjoy.

Hi Bren, I am loving your photos! Here are the ingredients for the onion seed bread:

RITA'S ONION-SEED SODA BREAD
2 handfuls oat bran
2 handfuls wheatgerm
Make up to 1 lb with plain white flour
2 teaspoons onion seeds and enough to sprinkle on the top
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (sieved)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon caster sugar
16 fl oz buttermilk

Heat the oven to 220ºC/425ºF
Put all the dry ingredients into a bowl. Mix together with a whisk. Pour the buttermilk into a well in the centre and mix together until all the ingredients are combined to make a very sticky dough. If it's a little dry add some more buttermilk and if it's all gone just add a little milk. Put into a 2lb loaf tin and sprinkle more onion seeds on top. Bake for 45 mins until the bottom sounds hollow when tapped. Take off baking parchment and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

You can make all sorts of variations of this. You don't have to add the oat bran and wheatgerm - you can make it with all plain white flour. You could use onion salt instead of regular salt and make it 1 teaspoon instead. A favourite here is raisin white soda where we add about 2 oz raisins to the mix before adding the buttermilk. My mother remembers her mother making a ginger version with crystalized ginger and white sugar on the top. I make this for her sometimes.

Hope it works out for you. The onion seed bread is my kids favourite for school lunches with cheese and ham. It's also great with a hearty soup.
Enjoy.

Guess it's time for my Brown Soda Bread recipe!

RITA'S IRISH BROWN BREAD

8oz stoneground wholewheat flour
2 handfuls oat bran
2 handfuls wheatgerm (toasted or untoasted)
Make up to 1lb with plain white flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (bread soda)(sieved)
1 teaspoon caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
16 fl oz buttermilk

METHOD:
Preheat the oven to 220ºC/425ºF
Put all the dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix together with a whisk. Make a well in the centre of the flour with a wooden spoon. Pour all the buttermilk at one time into the centre of the flour and mix with a wooden spoon. It should look like this when you have mixed it all.


Line a 2lb loaf tin with baking parchment and fill with the mixture. Sprinkle the top with sesame seeds or oatmeal or your personal favourite. This is what it should look like before it goes into the oven. The one on the right is brown bread the one on the left is onion seed soda bread.

Bake in the centre of the oven at 220ºC for 45 minutes. (If you have a fan oven you will need to adjust the temperature according to the manufacturers instructions and it may cook quicker.) Test to see if it is done by tapping the bottom of the loaf. If it sounds hollow it is cooked. It should look like this:
P3210064.JPG
Take off the lining paper or baking parchment and allow to cool on a wire rack. Best eaten when it has cooled completely.
ENJOY!