Banana, date, honey and walnut cake

Hands up if you love banana cake! If you do then you've come to the right place. I love putting borderline mouldy bananas to use.

I came across this banana, date, honey and walnut cake recipe at Jean's blog, Baking In Franglais towards the end of last year and immediately bookmarked it. The combination of banana and dates really appealed to me and I also loved the idea of pouring warm honey on top of the cake fresh from the oven, like a drizzle cake.

Although I think I slightly underbaked my cake I can safely say this is one of my favourite banana cakes I've baked in a long time. My mum, who loves dates but proclaims to dislike honey, also thought the cake was utterly delicious. It was particularly tasty warm from the oven as the dates were so soft that they melted in the mouth. I also liked that most of the cake's sweetness came from the honey rather than sugar. You could almost say it's a healthy cake. Maybe. I'm going with it.

This recipe also gave me an opportunity to use the digital scales I received for Christmas. Being able to measure out precisely 80g of sugar was rather exciting.

I'm also very pleased with my new (to me) cake plate. It appears I'm fussy about rectangular cake plates as I have been scouring second hand and charity shops for years and this is the first one I've liked enough to buy. It's plain but has enough detail to be interesting. I love the gentle, frilly edge and I'm always a sucker for yellow roses on china.  Finally I have something pretty to put my loaf cakes on instead of a chopping board!

sticky toffee cake and cupcakes

Fancy cake decorating has never been my thing. If this was made in the Great British Bake Off tent Mary Berry would likely describe it as "informal", but that's ok, my presentation standards aren't high. As long as it tastes good and I get to eat a bit, I'm happy. Worst comes to worst, just stick it on a pretty plate or a cake stand.

I baked this sticky toffee cake for my uncle's 60th birthday this week, so obviously I couldn't cut into it for photographs, but I did sample a cupcake and they were utterly delicious. Sticky and sweet with squidgy pockets of dates in a brown sugar sponge. There's no point being diet conscious here. Sometimes you need to give the calories the middle finger and shove a whole damn cupcake in your mouth and delight in all the sugar.

Despite having used this recipe multiple times before (briefly mentioned here and here) it has never received its own blog post, so I thought it was high time I rectified the situation. The only change I made was to make my own toffee sauce for the topping and mixing into the icing instead of buying a tin of dulce de leche. It was incredibly thick and sticky to handle, bordering on unco-operative, but the flavour was definitely worth it.

 Look at that dripping toffee. Mmmmmmmmmmm.

Sticky Toffee cake cupcakes

Cake recipe is basically doubled quantities of Hummingbird Bakery's sticky toffee cupcakes from their "Cake Days" book. The mixture yields two 8 inch round cakes and 9 cupcakes.

Toffee recipe is from Edd Kimber's "The Boy Who Bakes" book, listed under "salted caramel sauce", although I omitted the sea salt.

For the sponge:

360g (13oz) pitted and chopped dates

360ml (13 fl oz) boiling water

160g (6oz) slightly salted butter, softened

300g (11 oz) soft light brown sugar (I subbed in some brown muscovado sugar as I didn't have enough soft light brown sugar)

4 large eggs

360g (13oz) plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

 2 tsp vanilla extract

For the toffee sauce:

150g granulated sugar

10g salted butter, softened

125ml double cream

For the icing:

160g (5 1/2oz) unsalted butter, softened

500g (1lb 2oz) icing sugar

50ml (1 3/4fl oz) whole milk

100g (3 1/2oz) toffee sauce

Place the chopped dates in a bowl, pour over the boiling water and leave to soak for about 1/2 hour. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5. Grease and line two 8" round cake tines and line a muffin tin with cupcake cases. 

Using a hand held electric whisk or a freestanding mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together until soft and fluffy. Add the eggs in one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl and mixing well on a medium speed after adding each egg. In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Add these dry ingredients in 3 batches to the other mixture, then mix at a medium-high speed until everything is fully incorporated. Lastly, mix in the vanilla and date mixture by hand, making sure the dates are evenly dispersed throughout the batter.

Fill the cake tins with the batter until roughly two thirds full. The remaining batter should fill approx. 9 cupcake cases. Bake the cakes in the oven for 25-30 minutes until risen and springy to the touch. The cupcakes should be baked separately as they're smaller and only take 18-20 minutes to bake. Leave to cool slightly before removing from the tins and placing onto a wire rack to cool completely before icing.

For the toffee, melt the granulated sugar over a medium heat in a medium sized heavy based saucepan on the hob until fully dissolved.  Don't stir the mixture as it will crystallise, just give it a gentle swirl every so often. Once it has turned deep golden remove the pan from the heat and carefully pour in half the cream. Be careful as the sugar will bubble fiercely! Once the mixture has settled a bit, add the remaining cream and then the butter. If your mixture is lumpy (mine definitely was) then put the pan back on the heat and stir until smooth. (Mine took quite a lot of stirring and I added in a bit more cream.)

For the icing, mix together the butter and icing sugar on a low speed (or by hand) until sandy in texture. Gradually add the milk then increase the speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy. Finally add the toffee and beat it in thoroughly to ensure everything is well mixed. Use to generously fill and top the cakes and use the remaining icing to decorate the cupcakes. Swirl the toffee on top of the icing.

Baker's note: I felt the icing was quite slack, so it may be worth omitting the milk and only adding it at the end if you feel the icing needs it.

sticky date cake

With snow forecast this week I felt the only way to ease myself into the cold, winter weather was with a slab of cake packed with juicy sultanas, raisins and sticky dates.

This is basically a boiled tea loaf recipe (or Smiddy cake if you're Scottish), but condensed milk is used in place of sugar to add a lovely caramel flavour to the cake. I'm one of those people who enjoys drinking condensed milk straight from the tin so it saddened me that the recipe used a whole tin. There wasn't much left for my sweet tooth to scrape!

Interestingly there are no eggs in this recipe, so there wasn't much rise, but the cake has plenty of moisture and a very soft texture.

My Dad in particular absolutely loved this cake. I think we all liked how deep each slice was, a bit like scaling a cliff face! Stupidly I thought this cake would last us a while due to its size, but it barely lasted three days.

As it's such an old fashioned, homely cake I thought I'd photograph it with Mum's 1970s Denby which we picked up from a charity shop for a couple of pounds last month. I suppose like a boiled fruit cake it's something you'll either love or loathe. Personally I rather like the brown, retro charm.

Sticky date cake

Recipe found on pg26 of "Vintage Cakes" by Jane Brocket. Published 2012 Jacqui Small

275g medjool dates, halved and chopped into sixths
175g raisins
225g sultanas
250g butter
275ml water
1 x 397g tin condensed milk
300g plain flour
1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tbsp orange marmalade

Gently heat the dried fruit, butter, water and condensed milk in a large heavy based saucepan until the butter has melted. Do not over stir as you don't want to break up the dates. Bring the pan to the boil and continue to boil over a medium heat for 3 minutes until the mixture has turned a darker colour and smells of caramel. Stir the mixture occasionally to stop it from sticking. Leave the mixture to cool.

Preheat the oven to gas mark 3/160C and grease and line a 20cm round tin with baking parchment. Once the mixture is cool/lukewarm, sift in the flour and bicarbonate of soda and stir on the marmalade. Mix everything together until well combined and spoon into the prepared tin, levelling the surface. This mixture almost fills the tin but don't worry as it doesn't rise much.

Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 2- 2 1/2 hours (mine took 2hrs 5 mins, and my oven is usually on the slow side). Check the cake after 1 hour to check the top isn't browning too quickly. If it is (mine was) lay a double thickness of tinfoil over the top of the tin and continue baking. Your cake will be fully baked when a metal skewer/knife inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave your cake to cool in the tin.

Festive bakes: round 2

I think I may have finally met my match in terms of baking. I have baked so much in the last week or so that the thought of eating anything sweet almost makes me feel ill! As I am a disorganised blogger I thought I'd cram everything together in another big, festive food post. (My first festive post can be found here.)

First up are these cranberry and white chocolate cookies. I've made these cookies/biscuits before and had forgotten how good they are!

They're crunchy round the edges and slightly chewy in the middle. I love the contrast of tart cranberry and sweet white chocolate. It was difficult stopping everybody from eating these when I was trying to pack them up as gifts.

After the cookies I baked these snickerdoodles, also from the Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days book.

Unfortunately I was really disappointed with these so didn't give them away. I liked the idea of them, sweet and cinnamony, but they came out far too doughy/floury. They were baked as little balls and were meant to flatten during baking but mine stayed fairly ball shaped. Not sure what went wrong there.

After the disappointment of the snickerdoodles I made date and cinnamon shortbread, although I would say it's more of a bar than a shortbread.

I liked the technique of the rubbing together the flour and butter, stirring in the dates and sugar and then dumping the mixture into the tray and pressing it in! This bake scores highly in the no faff ratings. I also sprinkled some of the left over cinnamon sugar from the snickerdoodles on top when it was fresh from the oven which added a lovely touch. My mum and brother really liked these.

I was determined to bake some festive cupcakes this year as I've been dying to use my cute snowman cases. I made some chocolate orange cupcakes, which I have made before, but I decided to use the Hummingbird Bakery's basic chocolate cupcake batter instead with the addition of some grated orange zest.

I love the icing for these cupcakes. I could eat it all day (that could be why I've been feeling ill...) and they look extra pretty with terry's chocolate orange wedges.

I have also baked some basic vanilla cupcakes for the weirdos people who don't like chocolate orange, the sponges for the Christmas trifle and the date traybake for sticky toffee pudding! (We have two puddings for Christmas. Partly out of greediness but mostly because we can't agree on one dessert.)

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas! Hope Santa is good to everybody tomorrow x

Apple pie cake and sticky toffee cupcakes

Last week was my brother's birthday (my eldest brother was the week before) so I got to make another celebration cake! After showing him various recipes he decided on Edd Kimber's apple pie cake.

The sponge layers were light and packed with cinnamon flavour, but not in any ways overpowering. Sandwiched between the layers were cinnamon cream cheese icing (seriously tasty), caramelised apples and a drizzle of sticky syrup made from the apple juices. I think this was my tallest cake yet. It was huge! Huge and delicious.

Mmmmmm, look at that drizzly syrup!

As I want to support Edd Kimber with his first book I won't type out the recipe, but I can highly recommend it. I'd quite like to try all of his layer cakes as they look so impressive.

I also baked some sticky toffee cupcakes last week. These were iced in a mad rush so apologies for the lack of pretty decoration. I've made them before, for bonfire night last year, but they were so good I didn't get a chance to photograph them! They were just as tasty as before: a sticky date sponge with a dulche de leche butter icing (yes, it really does taste as good as it sounds!)

They may even be my favourite cupcake flavour to date (ooh I love a pun), or at least tie with nutella cupcakes, although I think I'm sliding into dodgy territory here, a bit like when Kate raised the difficult question, "if you could only have one type of cake for the rest of your life which would you choose?" It's so hard to pick an absolute favourite!

On a separate topic, I acquired some duck eggs this week. Can anybody recommend any recipes they'd be extra tasty in? I've never baked with them before so I'm quite excited.

Sticky Toffee Cupcakes

Recipe from Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days, p.185

For the sponge:

180g (6 1/2oz) pitted and chopped dates

180ml (6 1/2fl oz) boiling water

80g (3oz) unsalted butter, softened

150g (5 1/2oz) soft light brown sugar

2 large eggs

180g (6 1/2oz) plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla essence (use extract, it's better!)

For the frosting

160g (5 1/2oz) unsalted butter, softened

500g (1lb 2oz) icing sugar

50ml (1 3/4fl oz) whole milk

100g (3 1/2oz) tinned caramel/dulce de leche

12-16 dates, pitted and chopped, or small pieces of soft toffee to decorate

Place the chopped dates in a bowl, pour over the boiling water and leave to soak for approx. 20 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5, and line a muffin tin with cases. Using a hand held electric whisk or a freestanding mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together until soft and fluffy. Break the eggs in one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl and mixing well on a medium speed after adding each egg. Sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Add these dry ingredients in 3 batches to the egg and butter mix, then adjust the speed to medium-high and continue mixing until the batter is smooth and even. Scrape around the sides and bottom of the bowl to pick up any ingredients that might not be mixed in, then beat again briefly to ensure everything is well encorporated. Next add the vanilla essence to the date mixture and mix this into the cake batter by hand, making sure the dates are evenly dispersed throughout the batter.

Fill each paper case up to two thirds full with the batter. Any remaining batter can be used to fill extra cases in a second muffin tin. Bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes or until risen and springy to the touch. Leave to cool slightly before removing from the tin and placing onto a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Using the electric whisk or freestanding mixer with the paddle attachment, mix together the butter and icing sugar on a low speed until sandy in texture and no large lumps of butter remain. Still mixing on a low speed gradually add the milk and mix in well, then increase the speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy. Finally add the tinned caramel, beating it in thoroughly to ensure the frosting is evenly mixed. Spoon generous amounts of the frosting onto each cupcakes, then gently smooth over with a palette knife making a swirl on top if you wish. Scatter over the chopped dates or toffee pieces if using. (I strongly advise halving the frosting quantity. I iced generously and still had loads left over!)

Pudding glorious pudding!

At Christmas my family usually makes sticky toffee pudding and trifle (we're greedy). Some people prefer the one pudding over the other so it keeps everybody happy. I eat both though (told you, GREEDY!) Occasionally we shake it up some years and make a Christmas pudding instead, but usually we find it a bit heavy and rich on the stomach after a rich dinner.

Words cannot describe how amazing homemade sticky toffee pudding is. I've tried a few in different restaurants but I think ours has the edge. The toffee sauce tastes sooo good.

Despite burning the sponges for the trifle (oops!) it tastes great too. I had some for lunch today.

I thought I'd include the recipe for the sticky toffee puddings in this post. It's definitely a recipe worth sharing, everybody should try this! Although please don't blame me if you gain an extra few pounds because of it.

Sticky Toffee Pudding

Recipe from a family friend. Sorry all the measurements are in ounces. They can be converted easily in an online weight converter though.

For the date sponge

4oz marg.

4oz caster sugar

2 eggs (mine were large)

8 oz chopped dates

80z self raising flour

1 tsp bicarbonate soda

1/2 pint boiling water

Chop the dates into a bowl then add the bicarbonate soda and boiling water. I then left it to sit for 20-30 mins. Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4. Grease and line a 30 x 23cm (12 x 9 inch) traybake tin. Cream the marg and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs and flour, then the date mixture. Mix until combined and pour into the tin. Bake on the middle shelf for approx. 20mins or until well risen/firm to touch.

For the toffee sauce

8oz butter

8oz dark brown soft sugar

1/2 pt double cream

Melt the butter and sugar together and add the cream (although my mum says you can throw it all together). Gently boil together for a few minutes then try not to drink it all before the traybake is ready!

Date scones

Mum said she would make some date scones today and I held her to it. I've had plain, chocolate chip and sultana scones before, but never dates so I was pretty excited about it.

I ate mine plain, fresh out the oven (definitely the best way) but we put some jam in Dad's scone to go with his coffee. Unfortunately we nearly burned the first tray of scones because we got distracted by the tv.

I also baked a batch of sticky toffee cupcakes for Bonfire Night. They were so good, almost too good because they all disappeared before I could take a photograph! The recipe was from the Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days book and I'll definitely be making them again.

Other than the sticky toffee cupcakes, I really enjoyed the sparklers on Bonfire Night. My camera took some pretty funky photos on a slow shutter speed. The first one is a heart shape I made and the second one is with my cousin.

Date scones
Recipe from Mum's baking book, so probably from Granny.

3/4lb (340g) self-raising flour
3oz (85g) butter or marg.
3oz (85g) sugar
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 egg
a little milk
handful of chopped dates.

Preheat oven to 200C/400F/Gas mark 6 and line two oblong trays with baking parchment. Rub together the flour and butter until it has a breadcrumb texture. Add the other dry ingredients and then the egg, mixing together with a knife. Add a little milk until the mixture is fairly stiff and then add anything extra such as a handful of chopped dates or sultanas. Press the mixture out with your hands to roughly half an inch in thickness (just over a 1cm) on a floured surface and cut out your scones. My cutter was just over 2 inches in diameter (5 or 6cm) and made just over 20 scones. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes until risen and lightly golden on top.

date and walnut traybake

We had a couple of relatives visiting last night and since the custard tart had disappeared I thought I'd better bake something else. I also thought it was the perfect time to try something from my new Mary Berry book (The Baking Bible) as all the recipes look like comforting, old fashioned, family baking. Mum had the deciding vote of which traybake to make and she went for the date and walnut one.

It made such a nice smell in the oven, but I was lucky I checked on it early because it would have burnt if I had left it in for the recommended time. The lemon glaze on top is nearly my favourite part as I love how it cuts through the dark, nutty, cake flavour. Yum.

To continue the old fashioned theme, I put some on my oldest cake plate. It belonged to my Great Granny and Granddad (on my Mum's Dad's side) and it was part of a teaset which got divided between the family when Granny died, that way everybody could enjoy it. It's not a fancy brand of china, but I really like it.

Date and walnut traybake

Recipe from Mary Berry's Baking Bible

250g (9oz) stoned and chopped dates

40g (1 1/2oz) softened butter

350ml (12fl oz) boiling water

2 large eggs

200g (7oz) dark muscovado sugar

150g (5oz) ground almonds

150g (5oz) chopped walnuts

350g (12oz) self raising flour

1 1/2 level tsp ground cinnamon

For the icing

225g (8oz) sifted icing sugar

grated rind and juice of one lemon

walnut pieces, to decorate

Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas mark 4. Grease a 30 x 23cm (12 x 9 inch) traybake or roasting tin then line the base with baking parchment. Measure the dates and butter into a small bowl and pour over the boiling water. Set aside to cool. Meanwhile whisk the eggs and sugar together in a large bowl, then add the cooled date mixture and remaining cake ingredients. Whisk then pour into the tin. Bake in the oven for about 1 hour 10 minutes (mine actually took around 50 minutes) or until the cake is firm to the touch and golden brown. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn out, peel off the parchment and finish cooling on a wire rack.

Mix the icing sugar with the lemon rind and juice, adding a little hot water to make a spreading consistency. Pour over the cake and gently spread out evenly with a palette knife. Decorate with walnut pieces and leave to set. Cut to whatever size you desire.