EVERY NOW and then, a niche product stops being made due to total lack of demand.

This happened with the classic Yorkshire Tea Loaf a few years ago, upsetting a lot of my regular customers at work.

Taylors Yorkshire Tea decided to discontinue their famed tea loaf due to the rising cost of raw materials, meaning they could no longer compete with the other cake ranges available.

Raw materials? This is a cake we're talking about and not a fighter plane, for heaven's sake.

The rare and expensive 'materials' to make this cake were raisins, currants, cherries, eggs, flour, spices, sugar and a cup of Yorkshire Tea.

So what is it that makes Yorkshire Tea Loaf 'Brack' such a great and much-loved British institution?

It helps, I guess, if you are a Yorkshire Tea addict like me.

Having grown up in God's own county, I drink gallons of the stuff a day just to function, and it must be strong with a little milk and no sugar, and the same colour as the cake. There’s no other tea like it.

What better to accompany this classic brew in the afternoon than a big wedge of Yorkshire tea-flavoured cake with the fruits soaked in a steaming mug of Yorkshire?

What is surprising about the economic hard times is that cake is very much in vogue, and the British have found an affection for confectionary that runs deep: we love ''a nice cup of tea and a sit down''.

I don't know the etiquette when a cake is no more. Should I be lowering a doily to half mast? Should I get a priest round to mumble ''ashes to ashes, crumbs to crumbs''?

I can see a debate brewing now!

Should I be reaching out for my granny's recipe book and bringing this classic Yorkshire cake back to life again? I think so!

Rant over.

Making a homemade version of this classic cake is very easy to do, but you do need to plan this tea loaf a little in advance as it requires steeping the fruits in the tea overnight.

Once that stage is done the rest of the recipe is quick and straightforward to put together.

The combinations of the brown sugar, mixed spices and fruits give me a strong impression I’m baking a Christmas cake with all the smells mingling together deliciously.

Overall I just love baking old and forgotten Yorkshire recipes and I’m so glad the original version has vanished from the shelves without an apology.

My own spin on this classic will not disappoint.

Yes it’s a slow bake and incredibly moist, surprisingly not having butter in the recipe and with the eggs playing an important part, along with the large amount of tea being used.

It has the crust of a currant bun and an interior similar to a fruitcake without being too rich or dense, making it just perfect to munch on, with or without the best butter spread thickly on top.

And of course, not forgetting a proper cup of Yorkshire Tea in the other hand!