El’s banana cake with Joss’s tahini-honey butter

Name: El’s banana cake with Joss’s tahini-honey butter
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 10
Ingredients: 80 ml oil (vegetable, olive, sunflower or groundnut), plus extra for greasing; 120 g dark muscovado sugar; 4 ripe bananas (if the skins are black, so much the better); 1 tsp vanilla extract; 250 g plain flour; 2 tsp baking powder; 1½ tsp ground cinnamon; 20 cardamom pods, split, seeds ground to make 1 tsp; 70 g pecans, toasted and roughly chopped; 70 g pitted soft dates, roughly chopped

This is the best banana cake Diana Henry has ever tasted. She begged El Kemp (she runs Kemp Kitchen) for the recipe and Joss Herd for the tahini butter it was served with. They did the cooking at one of the writing courses Diana taught in Devon and served this for afternoon tea. El puts dark chocolate chips in, where Diana uses chopped dates. The cake is vegan, but the butter isn’t.

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Vegetarian

Serves10
CourseCake
Prepare15 mins
Cook40 mins
Total time55 mins
Pluscooling

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80ml oil (vegetable, olive, sunflower or groundnut), plus extra for greasing
120g dark muscovado sugar
4 ripe bananas (if the skins are black, so much the better)
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1½ tsp ground cinnamon
20 cardamom pods, split, seeds ground to make 1 tsp
70g pecans, toasted and roughly chopped
70g pitted soft dates, roughly chopped

For the butter

75g butter, at room temperature
2 tbsp honey (I prefer set honey)
2 tbsp tahini
¼ tsp sea salt flakes (optional)

Preheat the oven to 190ºC, gas mark 5. Brush the inside of a 900g loaf tin with oil and line it with baking parchment. Allow the paper to go over the short sides so you can use it to lift the cake out.
Whizz the sugar and 2 peeled bananas in a food processor. Add to a large mixing bowl with the remaining peeled bananas and mash with a fork. Add the oil and vanilla and mix well.
Put the flour, baking powder and ground spices into a smaller bowl, whisk to combine, then add to the wet ingredients. Stir in the pecans and dates and pour into the prepared tin.
Bake for 20 minutes. Check to see if it’s getting too dark on top – cover with foil if it is. Cook for 20 minutes more until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then lift out and onto a wire cooling rack (it’s delicious warm or at room temperature).
Meanwhile, beat the butter in a small bowl until soft and fluffy. Beat in the honey and tahini until blended. Sprinkle over the salt, if using, then cover and leave in the fridge until ready to serve.

Cook’s tip

It’s best if the bananas are almost black. If you don’t want to serve it as part of lunch, keep it for having with coffee or tea later in the afternoon.

Typical values per serving when made using specific products in recipe