John Gregory-Smith's California Walnut & Date Loaf Cake

Course Dessert
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Calories 697kcal

Ingredients

For the loaf cake

  • 250 g dates
  • 120 g California Walnuts
  • 2 medium eggs
  • 100 g light brown muscovado sugar
  • 150 ml vegetable oil
  • 100 g yogurt
  • 200 g self-raising flour
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon

For the butter cream

  • 80 g unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 100 g cream cheese at room temperature
  • 250 g icing sugar

To decorate

  • 150 g California Walnuts
  • Salted caramel sauce

Instructions

  • Pre-heat the oven to 160c fan. Stone the dates and pop them into a bowl. Pour over 180ml of just boiled water and let them sit for about 10 minutes until lovely and soft.
  • Pop the California Walnuts into a blender and blitz until fine. Transfer to a bowl.
  • Add the dates and all the liquid to the blender and whizz until lovely and smooth. Add the eggs and sugar and blitz until pale.
  • Add the oil, yogurt, self-raising flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and ground California Walnuts. Blitz together until smooth and transfer to a lined loaf tin. Bake for 40-45 minutes until it’s pulling away at the sides and a skewer comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.
  • To make the butter cream, whisk together the butter and cream cheese and then add the icing sugar, a few tablespoons at a time, until super creamy and smooth. Dollop over the cooled cake and stud with the remaining California Walnuts. Drizzle over a little salted caramel sauce and serve immediately.

Nutrition

Serving: 165g | Calories: 697kcal | Carbohydrates: 65g | Protein: 9.1g | Fat: 44g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Sodium: 0.64mg | Fibre: 4.3g | Sugar: 50g
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