Cakes & Bakes: Date and walnut loaf

This date and walnut loaf is outstanding as an afternoon tea cake. It’s like a cross between malt loaf, a Yorkshire tea loaf and sticky toffee pudding.

Justin can never get enough of teatime loaf cakes, so this was made with him in mind.

So, if you’ve got a packet of dates lurking at the back of your food cupboard (perhaps from Christmas) this is the perfect way to use them all up.

Click here to save the recipe to Pinterest for later!

Date and walnut loaf

2017-03-14 10:42:57

Yields 2

Cook Time

1 hr

Cook Time

1 hr

Ingredients

450g/1lb stoned dates
1½tsp bicarbonate of soda
280ml/½pt boiling water or black tea
60g/2oz butter, softened
300g/12oz demerara sugar
2tbsp black treacle
2 eggs, lightly beaten
450g/1lb plain flour
pinch of salt
60g/2oz chopped walnuts

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Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/Gas mark 4
Line two loaf tins with parchment paper
Mix the bicarbonate of soda into the boiling water/black tea and pour over the dates making sure they're all covered. Leave until it goes cold
Beat together the butter and sugar
Add the beaten eggs
Gradually add the flour, salt and chopped nuts
Add the dates and the liquid they were soaking in. Combine thoroughly
Divide the mixture between the two lined loaf tins
Bake in the middle of the oven for an hour. Check on them after 45 minutes to make sure that their tops aren't cooking too quickly. If they start appearing too brown, cover the tops over with tin foil for the final 15 minutes cooking time
Allow to cool on a wire rack
To eat, slice and spread with butter

Adapted from Yorkshire W. I. Recipe book

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/

Cakes & Bakes: Coconut loaf cake

If you remember, for last week’s Cakes & Bakes recipe, I was meant to bake a coconut loaf cake but I didn’t have any of the main ingredient.

Justin enjoyed the resulting almond loaf so much that I had to make good on last week’s previously planned bake.

Once again, this was a quick and easy cake to make. Cream the sugar & butter, mix together the wet ingredients, add together. Mix together the dry ingredients, add together. Bake. That’s it!

Nothing quite beats the aroma of coconut cake baking in the oven… and if we thought the last loaf cake was delicious, this one raised the bar even further – coco-nutty (of course!), moist, sweet – just scrumptious!

Coconut loaf cake

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Cook Time 1

Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Ingredients

150 g/5oz butter softened
150 g/5oz caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 tbsp milk
150 g/5oz plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
100 g/3½oz dessicated coconut

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 150ºC/300ºF/gas mark 2
Grease a 450g/1lb loaf tin
Using a food processor or electric whisk, cream the sugar and butter
In a measuring jug, whisk the eggs, milk and vanilla extract
With the processor/whisk still going, mix the wet mixture into the creamed butter & sugar a little at a time
In another mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients well (flour, baking powder, salt, dessicated coconut)
Add the dry mixture into the wet mixture in 3 stages, mixing after each addition
Spoon into the greased loaf tin and level out using a spatula or back of a spoon
Bake for 45 minutes to an hour or until golden brown on the top and a skewer inserted into the centre comes away clean

Keyword cake, coconut, loaf cake, tea loaf

Cakes & Bakes: Almond loaf cake

Today’s almond loaf cake wasn’t meant to happen; Justin requested a coconut cake that he could have with an afternoon cup of tea. We didn’t have any dessicated coconut in the store cupboard, and it was out of stock when I went to by some from the supermarket.

A snap decision in Morrison’s saw me pick up a bag of ground almonds instead… and what a good decision that turned out to be.

A last-minute, quick, basic wet & dry recipe that turned out to be taste triumph!

A little drizzle of chocolate finished it off nicely.

A new one for my afternoon tea cake repertoire!

Almond loaf cake

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Cook Time 45

Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Servings 8

Ingredients

175 g/6oz + 1tbsp golden caster sugar
150 g/5oz butter softened
2 eggs
½ tsp almond essence
4 tbsp milk
125 g/4½oz plain flour
1½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
150 g/5oz ground almonds
50 g/2oz dark chocolate

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 175ºC/325°F/Gas mark
Grease a 450g/1lb loaf tin
Cream the butter and sugar together
Beat in the eggs one at a time until well combined
Stir in the almond essence and the milk
In another mixing bowl, sieve together the flour, ground almonds, baking powder and salt
Stir this into the wet ingredients in three batches, stirring well after each addition
Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf tin, levelling out using a spatula or back of the spoon
Sprinkle the tablespoon of sugar evenly over the top
Bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes away clean
Allow to cool in the tin for at least half an hour
Break up the chocolate into a small heat-proof bowl
Melt in a bain-marie or in 10-second bursts in a microwave
Make a piping bag out of a triangle of parchment paper, fill with the melted chocolate and zig-zag over the top of the cake
Serve

Keyword almond, cake, loaf cake

Cakes & Bakes: Ginger loaf

This week’s Cakes & Bakes recipe is a low effort to high reward ginger loaf cake. There are quite a few ingredients, but its a simple case of combining the dry, the wet, then mixing them together – and popping it in the oven.

The aromas emanating from the kitchen as it baked were amazing.

And after less than an hour a moist, very flavoursome loaf cake emerged.

It’s a perfect afternoon cake. A cup of tea and slice of this will satisfy the most extreme 4 o’clock peckishness. And it keeps very well too, so there’ll be plenty of days to enjoy it – unless you actually let someone else have some too!

Ginger loaf

The Great British Book of Baking: 120 Best-loved Recipes from Teatime Treats to Pies and Pasties

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Cook Time 50

Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Servings 8

Ingredients

225 g/8oz self-raising flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground mixed spice
115 g/4oz butter chilled & diced
115 g/4oz black treacle
115 g/4oz golden syrup
115 g/4oz dark brown Muscovado sugar
275 ml/9½fl oz milk
1 egg
75 g/2½oz crystalised or stem ginger in syrup finely sliced

Instructions

Pre heat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/Gas mark 4 and line a 1kg/2lb loaf tin with baking parchment
In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger, cinnamon and mixed spice
Add the diced butter and lightly rub into the dry mixture
Pour the treacle and golden syrup into a small saucepan and warm gently until melted and runny but not hot. Set aside until lukewarm
In another larger saucepan, add the sugar and milk and heat gently, stirring well to dissolve the sugar. Set aside until lukewarm
Whisk the milk into the flour mixture, quickly followed by the treacle mixture and the egg
Add the ginger pieces and stir through before pouring the mixture into the prepared loaf tin
Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean
Allow to cool in the tin on a wire rack before turning out. Serve warm or cold within 1 week

Keyword cake, ginger, loaf cake, tea loaf