BANANA, DATE AND HONEY DRIZZLE CAKE

I have made a few different banana cakes over the years but this is one I keep coming back to.  The recipe is in a leaflet that came with a special offer that was in Sainsbury’s about six years ago.  A twin pack of Lurpak butter and a free loaf tin for £3.  I got two of them for myself and three more for colleagues at work.  The tins were of really good quality and understandably they soon sold out.

It’s the honey in this cake that makes it so good I think.  There is some honey in the mixture and you drizzle some more over it when it comes out of the oven and is still warm, much like a lemon drizzle cake.

Mine was a clear honey but still quite thick so in order to make it easy to drizzle I put the spoonful required in a small ramekin and into the oven when the cake came out and the oven was turned off.  After about five minutes the cake was still very warm and the honey was runny enough for drizzling.

As I was in the mood for using up a few storecupboard bits and pieces I used half dates and half sultanas this time, which worked very well.  The walnuts were some of our foraged walnuts from this autumn but pecans would be just as good instead if you had those already.

I have often pondered when a loaf is not a loaf but a cake.  To my mind a loaf is something you would spread butter on and a cake is something that doesn’t need any butter.  So although this cake is baked in a loaf tin and is described as a loaf, to me it is definitely a cake.  It’s lovely and moist and keeps really well for a few days.

The recipe used to be on the Lurpak website but it no longer is so I have given my version of it here.

Ingredients

2 medium ripe bananas, peeled

200g self raising flour

160g butter at room temperature, or spreadable butter 

80g caster sugar

2 tblsp clear honey

2 eggs

80g chopped dates (or half dates, half sultanas)

40g chopped walnuts (or pecans, possibly even brazil nuts)

1 tblsp extra honey for drizzling, warmed 

Method

Grease the tin and line it with greaseproof paper or baking parchment, or use a paper liner.

Preheat the oven to 160°C, 140°fan, Gas mark 3.

Put the bananas into a large bowl and mash them.  Add the other ingredients (except for the dates and nuts) and whisk together with an electric whisk until well combined.

Stir in the dates and nuts.  Pour or spoon the mixture into the tin and bake for 1 hour or until done (mine took 1 hour and 5 minutes).

When the cake is out of the oven, make a few holes in the top with the skewer and drizzle the warmed tablespoon of honey over the cake whilst it is still warm.  

Leave to cool in the tin before turning out.

Cuts into 10-12 slices.