Banana Walnut And Date Loaf Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to a moderate heat.
• Grease and line a 20cm x 12cm loaf pan, with baking paper.
• Beat butter and sugar together until creamy. Add orange zest with one of the eggs and beat until smooth. Add remaining egg and beat to a smooth batter.
• Fold in the dates, bananas, flour, orange juice and walnuts and fold in well.
• Spoon the batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for about 45 minutes or until cooked when tested with a scewer.
• Cool loaf in pan for about 5 minutes, then turn out to a rack to cool completely.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease a 2lb loaf tin with some butter and line the base with baking parchment, then grease this as well.
• In a large bowl, mix together the butter, sugar and egg, then slowly mix in flour and baking powder. Peel, then mash the bananas. Now mix everything together, including the nuts.
• Pour your mixture into the tin and bake for 1 hr, or until a skewer comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool on a wire rack before removing from the loaf tin. The loaf can now be wrapped tightly in cling film and kept for up to 2 days, or frozen for up to 1 month. Defrost and warm through before serving. Serve in thick slices topped with vanilla ice cream and drizzled with a little Easy chocolate sauce (see recipe, below).

Steps:

• Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Butter and line the base of an 18cm Bundt mould or round cake tin with baking parchment. Put the flour, cinnamon, butter, sugar, eggs and honey in a large mixing bowl and beat with a wooden spoon or hand-held electric mixer until light and fluffy.
• Mash the bananas and chop the dates. Stir into the cake mix with the walnuts. Spoon into the prepared tin and smooth the top. Bake for 40-50 mins until firm to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean (a round tin may take 10-20 mins more). Cool in the tin for 15 mins, then turn out and cool on a wire rack.
• To make the glaze, put the honey and butter in a small pan and bring to the boil, stirring until the butter has melted. Boil briefly, about 1 min, until slightly thickened. Remove from the heat and stir in the walnuts. Leave to cool until thickened and opaque. Spoon over the top of the cake and leave to set.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Brush a 450g loaf tin with a little oil then line with baking parchment.
• Mix the flour, almonds, baking powder, sugar and dates. Beat together the mashed banana and oil, then combine it with the flour mixture. Add the soya milk to loosen the mixture, fold in the walnuts and scrape the mixture into the tin. Bake for 1 hr, covering the top if it starts to look too brown. Insert a skewer into the centre of the cake - it should come out clean. If not, return to the oven and cook for a further 10 mins. Cool for 15 mins before taking it out of the tin.