If you love a good, old fashioned cake, this Banana Date Cake with Walnut and Honey Glaze is the cake for you! Richly spiced date and walnut studded Banana Date Cake is a deliciously moist cake with a with buttery sweet, nutty glaze that is hard to resist.
Banana Date Cake is perfect for any occasion and it’s definitely one of those cakes that gets even better as it sits. So whether your family is big or small, this is the sort of cake you will enjoy having on hand.
A Traditional Recipe With a Modern Twist
I adapted this recipe from one published by BBC Good Food magazine over eight years ago. Banana Date Cake with a Walnut and Honey Glaze is definitely the sort of cake you could make with a bowl and wooden spoon, but I use an electric mixer for a lighter cake. The original recipe calls for self-rising flour, but if that isn’t available, you can add baking powder and baking soda to ordinary flour for an equally successful bake. I’ve provided the proportions in the recipe.
You can use walnuts or pecans in this recipe. Although I adore pecans, I prefer the flavour of walnuts with the honey – but that is just personal preference. Either nut is a delicious choice.
Better Honey = Better Banana Date Cake
Do choose a really good liquid honey to make this cake. The honey is a really predominant flavour, so the one you choose is very important. There are all sorts of speciality honeys available these days, from mild Canadian clover to sweet Orange Blossom. I like a milder honey for this cake. Orange Blossom is perfect and I’ve also used a mild variety of local honey as well. To give your Banana Date Cake a totally different and very unique flavour, try Greek honey. It often has notes of thyme or fir and gives the cake more herbal notes. That said, Orange Blossom honey is my favourite choice for this cake.
Banana Date Cake with Walnut and Honey Glaze – Printable Recipe
Banana Date Cake with Walnut and Honey Glaze
Ingredients
- ¾ cup butter, softened
- ¾ cup packed brown sugar
- 1⅓ cup self-raising flour If using ordinary flour, add 1 teaspoon baking powder and ½ teaspoon baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon dried ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg freshly ground if possible
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 3 tablespoons liquid honey I like to use an orange blossom honey if I can get it as it adds lovely flavour but you can use any liquid honey.
- 3 small very ripe bananas, mashed that's about 12 ounces or 350 grams weighed with the skins on
- 1 cup dried dates, stoned and chopped
- ¾ cup chopped walnuts or pecans
- 6 tablespoons liquid honey
- ¼ cup butter
- ½ cup roughly chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C or 150° for fan ovens).
- Grease a Bundt Cake Pan.
- Cream the butter and sugar together using an electric mixer.
- Add the beaten eggs and beat the mixture together.
- Mix in the honey.
- Measure the flour (and baking powder and baking soda if using ordinary flour), cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg together in a bowl and stir together lightly with a fork.
- Add the flour mixture to the batter in the mixer bowl, in 3 additions, beating between additions.
- Beat in the bananas.
- Remove the mixer bowl from the mixer and stir the dates and the ¾ cup chopped walnuts or pecans into the batter.
- Spoon into the prepared Bundt pan and smooth the top.
- Bake 40 to 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. The top of the cake should be firm to the touch.
- Remove the cake pan from the oven and cool on a wire rack for 15 to 20 minutes before turning the cake out of the pan carefully and leaving on a wire rack to cool.
- When the cake has cooled completely, make the glaze by melting together the butter and honey in a small saucepan.
- Bring the butter and honey to the boil, stirring constantly, then boil for two or three minutes, still stirring constantly, until the mixture begins to thicken slightly.
- Remove the glaze carefully from the heat, and stir in the ½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans.
- Leave to cool for about 5 to 10 minutes until the mixture begins to thicken up a bit. Don't let the mixture get too thick or harden though.
- Spoon the glaze over the top of the cake, allowing it to run down the sides a bit.
- Allow the glaze to set for at least a half an hour before slicing and serving. Store the cake covered at room temperature.
Notes
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