Sticky Date and Walnut Cake with Maple Syrup Icing

This is a recipe from the Waitrose website that we printed out a L-O-N-G time ago.  Finally, today, we got around to making it.

Ingredients used were -
250g dates, chopped
150g butter, softened
100g soft brown sugar
4 Tbsp (60ml) maple syrup
250g Plain flour (we used Dove's farm gluten free)
2 eggs, beaten
1½ tsp baking powder (we used Dr Oetker gluten free)
1½ tsp mixed spice
50g walnuts, chopped
125g icing sugar, sifted

Having chopped the dates, they were placed in a bowl and covered with 150ml boiling water.  Whilst they were soaking, we prepared the rest of the ingredients and preheated the oven to 170C (fan).

The butter and brown sugar were beaten together until creamy.  Half of the maple syrup was added and mixed through.  Then, the flour and eggs were added a little at a time and fully incorporated.

After this, the mixed spice and baking powder was added and stirred through thoroughly.  Once this was done, we added the dates (and the soaking water) and two thirds of the chopped walnuts.  Again, the mix was thoroughly stirred.

The mix was then shared between metal baking tins which had been well greased.  A traybake tin, about 25cmx17cm, and a small loaf tin (10cmx7cm) were used. 

These were then baked in the pre-heated oven for 40 minutes when they were tested using a knife to see if they were cooked through.  Once the knife came out clean, the tins were placed on a cooling tray and, after about 10 minutes, the cakes were removed and left to cool fully.

Whilst the cakes cooled, the icing was made by mixing the icing sugar, remainder of the maple syrup and a small amount of warm water to get a runny mix.  This was then drizzled over the cakes and the remaining chopped walnuts were sprinkled on top.

Stuffed Dates

Dates are a favourite fruit of mine.  Sous Chef J isn't so keen but he will prepare some tasty treats from time to time.  These are a perfect home made gift that I am always happy to receive.

All that's needed are

10 Medjool Dates
20 Walnut halves
10 petit four cases

First of all, we remove stones from dates (if necessary) and open the date out a little.  It's best to make the cut lengthwise in the date.




Next, two walnut halves are placed into each date.

Finally, we serve each date in a petit four case.





Variations:  Dates can also be stuffed with whole, blanched almonds, pistachios or marzipan. Dipping them in melted dark chocolate also makes a delicious delicacy!

Banana Bread

Sous Chef J was delighted to get a SUSTRANS leaflet through the post about Free Range Kids.  In it he quickly spotted a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe for Banana Bread and, eyeing up the spotty bananas on the windowsill, he asked if we could bake it.  Taking a look at the ingredients, I agreed, although we did have to swap the apricots in the recipe for dates... and, of course, the self raising flour was substituted by Dove's Farm Gluten Free Self Raising Flour.

With Sous Chef J firmly in charge, preparation commenced.  He got the ingredients together and weighed out the things that were needed. So, we assembled 75g sultanas, one lemon, 100g soft unsalted butter, 125g sugar (recipe says caster, we had granulated), 2 large eggs, 3 large ripe bananas, 200g self raising flour (we used Dove's Farm Gluten Free Self Raising) and 75g dried dates (although recipe says ready to eat apricots!).

Then Sous Chef J moved onto the task of making the dates the same size as sultanas... but was surprisingly adept at the task and completed it without a moan!




The sultanas and dates were placed into little pots (a la MasterChef) and I was told to cream the butter and sugar.  Next an egg was added to the butter/sugar mix and combined well before repeating with the remaining egg.  At this point, the dried fruit and lemon zest were added and mixed in.

Sous Chef J then mashed the three bananas and added them to the mix.  Finally, the sifted Gluten Free Self Raising flour was carefully combined using a metal spoon. 

Next, the whole lot was added to the lined loaf tin and placed in the pre-heated oven.  As we were cooking other things in the oven, the temperature was higher (at 180ºC) than the recipe's stated 160ºC so we have a rather more brown outer loaf than would be expected!

Mmmmm... lovely Banana Bread

We checked it after 50 minutes but returned it for another 15 minutes as the inserted knife came out with cake mix on... then checked again, repeating until the knife blade came out clean.  In the end it was baked for about an hour and a quarter.  It was cooled in the tin for 15 minutes, then turned onto a wire cooling rack.

Delicious!  And well worth the wait.

Update - 7 October

Today we found ourselves with three VERY ripe bananas so Sous Chef J thought another batch of Banana Bread would be a good way to use them up.  I had other ideas and convinced him to try making muffins instead.  So, we agreed on a mix of muffins and mini muffins. The mix was shared between 12 muffin cases and 6 mini muffin cases.  The mini muffins were cooked for about 10 minutes, whereas the muffins took around 20 minutes.  Here are some pictures to show the results.

 

These are some ready to be frozen as we like to be prepared with Gluten Free goodies!