Banana and Date Cake

The start of a new year and a new decade and once again I am filled with good intentions. I have previously challenged myself to try one new recipe a week for a year and it resulted in discovering some new favourites. Therefore I am setting myself the same goal for 2020. I am not restricting myself to only one recipe a week if I am inspired to create more, but by the end of this year I shall have sampled a minimum of 52 new dishes.

Starting today with the sweet delight of cake. I tore the recipe out of a magazine some time last year and cannot now recall which magazine it was; however the footnote records that the recipe originally came from 'Palestine on a Place' by Joudie Kalla. 

I didn't have Medjool dates but I am quite happy with the substitution of the dates that I did have left over from our Christmas treats. I also only had 3 bananas so could not decorate the top with banana slices. Despite these changes I am very pleased with the result and would urge you to give it a go. It is certainly easy to make and very tasty. Ordinarily I don't like chocolate in cakes but the discretely hidden nuggets added a perfectly decadent dimension.

Ingredients:

300g salted butter, softened

300g golden caster sugar

3 eggs

3 bananas, plus 1 sliced for decoration

9-12 Medjool dates, pitted and chopped

100g milk or dark chocolate, broken into smallish pieces

350g self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 180*C /Fan 160*C and line a 27cm round baking tin with baking parchment.
• Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and light. Add the eggs and beat again until well combined.
• Peel and mash the bananas in a bowl until just smooth with a few chunks. Add to the cake mix with the dates and chocolate and fold in gently. Carefully fold in the flour and baking powder.
• Spoon the batter into the prepared tin and arrange the sliced banana on top. Bake for 60-70 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Leave it to cool then serve with tea or coffee.

Somehow it seems even better served on my special springtime bunny plate. 

Sorry there is not a photo of a complete cake ... I couldn't wait to cut it!