We’re in Morocco in date season (December 2019) and there seems to be a constant stream of dates flowing through Kaya. But that goes for bananas too. The problem with this is that we often have too many dates and the bananas are turning too ripe, so I needed to find a way to use them
But even if you’re not in Morroco, the flavours of this cake/loaf are delicious and, as far as the gorgeous Mr T is concerned, he will never look at another plain banana loaf again!
Notes
You’ll need a 20cm round cake tin, a 750gr – 1kg loaf tin or a muffin tin.
This is a really easy cake/loaf to make as it uses the all-in-one method, so no creaming butter and sugar, just bung it all in and mix.
You can replace the plain flour and baking powder with 200gr of self raising flour.
The dish
Serves about 12
Ingredients
| SIFT TOGETHER | ||
| 200gr | Plain flour | |
| 2 tsp | Baking powder | |
| 1 tsp | Cinnamon | |
| CAKE INGREDIENTS | ||
| 175gr | Butter, unsalted or salted, very soft but not melted | |
| 100gr | Sugar, soft brown, caster or granulated | |
| 3 tbl | Honey | |
| 2 eggs | Eggs, large, mixed | |
| 240gr | 2 large | Bananas, ripe – very ripe, mashed |
| DATE MIXTURE | ||
| 100gr | Dates, de-pitted and quartered | |
| 1/2 tsp | Bicarb (Bicarbonate of Soda) | |
| 50gr | Boiling water | |
| TOPPING | ||
| 30gr | 2 tbl | Butter, salted or unsalted |
| 60gr | 4 tbl | Honey, runny |
| 20 | Almonds/Pecans, whole |
Method
Pit and quarter dates, mix in bicarb and add hot water. Stir together and set aside to cool.
Pre-heat oven to 160degC FAN/180degC conventional
Prepare tin with parchment on the bottom and grease and flour sides (or spray sides with non-stick spray)
Sift dry ingredients, add rest of cake ingedients and gently mix together
Add mashed bananas and date mixture and gently stir through ensuring the mixture if fully combined. Don’t over-mix
Add mixture to tin and smooth top
Bake for 50-55 minutes and remove when a skewer inserted in centre comes out clean
Leave in tin for 15mins to cool on a rack
Meanwhile bring honey and butter to a boil, boil for 1 minute till thickening then remove from heat
Remove cake from tin
Toast almonds in a hot dry frying pan till just brown
Brush top of loaf/cake with a layer of caramelised honey, place almonds on top in decorative pattern, brush with the rest of the caramelised honey. Don’t worry about any dripping down the sides!
Leave to cool completely and enjoy…or eat warm as it’s just as good!
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