Andy's favorite Banana & date loaf with cinnamon crumble topping

OK I think I've got a bit of an obsession with overripe bananas at the moment.


My boyfriend thinks I'm very picky because I refuse to eat a banana when it goes slightly brown and spotty. Truth be told I like them still slightly green best. Wierd I know but dont hold it against me... the over ripe bananas in our house cerainly don't go to waste. I actually love the sweetness of overripe bananas when cooked. They go in cakes, cookies, smoothies, ice creams (cant wait to try that out when I get an ice cream maker- but may have to hope for one for Christmas if I've been good!) and of course my weekend breakfast of choice, porridge.


I recently made a batch of these banana, peanut butter, chocolate chip cookies. They were delicious and as usual me and my partner-in-baked-goods-crime, Andy ate far too many of them.


Then a couple of weeks ago I had a few such overripe specimens knocking around at the end of the week so used them to make a simple banana cake recipe I found at allrecipes. click here to try it. It was excellent and as usual when I bake cake, it didnt last very long. Like the cookies though it wasn't particularly healthy and was full of refined sugar and empty calories, so I started thinking about how I could give this recipe a healthy makeover by substituting some of the ingredients but hopefully none of the flavour.

I think I have achieved this. My boyfriend is my official banana cake tester and has now tried about 5 different variations of the cake and loves it! After several (all pretty nice i have to say) attempts I think I have come up with the best of both worlds. A delicious luxuriously moist and sweet cake that is healthy too! I have substituted the sugar for dates so that it is all natural sugar and none refined (apart from 1 teaspoon in the crumble topping but this is optional and the cake is still really good without it!).  I have also subbed some of the flour for wholemeal self raising flour. This combined with the dates adds tones of fiber making it full of slow release energy. At first I used all wholewheat flour but the cake turned out slightly too dense so to lighten it up again I added in some plain self-raising flour.

I toyed with the idea of using oil or peanut butter for fat instead of the butter but in the end I opted against it. I want this to taste like a deliciously more-ish teatime treat not a 'healthy snack'. Instead of substituting i have scaled back on the butter slightly and added more milk. This way it keeps its luxurious buttery taste and its still a bit lighter.

Unfortunaely the first time I made it I attempted to take it out of the tin too soon, nearly dropped it, and as I saved it ended up punching the cake in the middle so it was pretty squished but still tasted good. Even though we still ate it (of course!!!) I do recommend not punching your cake when it comes out of the oven!

Here goes...

Ingredients:

For the cake:

200g chopped dates
100g whole wheat self raising flour
100g plain self raising flour
100g butter
80mls milk
1tspn baking powder
1 tspn vanilla extract
pinch salt
2 large very ripe bananas
1 egg

For the crumble topping:

1 tablespoon wholewheat flour
pinch salt
1 teaspoon brown sugar
generous pinch of cinnamon
1 tspn butter

Directions:

Grease and line a standard loaf tin and preheat the oven to 160 degrees C.

Add the butter and 150g of the dates to a small pan and melt together. Once butter is melted simmer mixture on a very low heat for about 5 minutes while you measure the other ingredients then set aside to cool slightly.
In a separate bowl, mix together the 2 flours, salt, baking powder and the rest of the chopped dates.
Blend the bananas, milk and egg and vanilla extract.The easiest way to do it is with an electric hand blender. Add this mixture to the cooled dates and butter and mix well.
Add the wet mixture to the dry and mix quickly. Don't over mix it or you will end up with a tough chewy cake.
Pour into the lined tin and bake for a total of 50 minutes.
While the cake is starting to bake make the crumble topping by rubbing the butter into the dry ingredients. Add the crumble to the cake after 30 mins and then continue to bake for a further 20.

Ok so this cake isn't particularly low in calories but lets be honest, cakes that are low in cals usually taste like they are! Has anyone really had a decent sized slice of cake under 150 cals that actually tasted delicious?? If so I want to hear about it but I'm pretty skeptical. Cake is meant to be nice its not meant to be low in calories. However if like me you want to make room in a balanced diet for nice things like cake then wouldn't you rather feel like it was doing you some good as well as being yummy? Surely thats a double whammy! I'm not saying I don't enjoy sugary cakes and biscuits sometimes this cake is perfect as it really doesn't compromise on flavor and isn't full of empty calories.

|Absolute perfection with a cup of tea! xx