Baked banana, date and pecan loaf with spiced caramel sauce

This is a delicious recipe by Henrietta Inman from her book ‘Clean Cakes’. It is a perfect alternative for Christmas pudding, especially for those who don’t like the heaviness of vine fruits. It is gluten, dairy and egg free.

The loaf contains teff, a delicious gluten free Ethiopian grass, high in fibre, protein, minerals and vitamins such as B6. You need the flour, not the whole grain. It also contains blackstrap molasses which is often used as a dietary supplement for those with low iron and also especially rich in zinc.

This requires a little more effort in the kitchen, but is simple to make once you have assembled all of the ingredients.

Ingredients for the loaf:

• 1 tbsp milled flax seeds

• 3 tbsp water

• 80ml plant milk

• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar

• 190g dates, stoned

• 190ml water

• 2 tsp bicarb (baking soda)

• 2-3 large bananas (I used 2)

• 120g pecans

• 70g teff flour

• 70g rice flour

• 20g arrowroot

• 1/4 tsp baking powder

• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

• 1/2 tsp ground cardamom

• 1/2 tsp mixed spice (pumpkin spice)

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 50g apple puree

• 40g unsulphured molasses

• 80ml olive or rapeseed oil

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Ingredients for the spiced caramel sauce

• 1 x 400ml can coconut milk, full fat

• 100g maple syrup or honey

• 1/2 tsp sea salt

• 1/2 vanilla pod or vanilla extract

• 4 star anise

• t tbsp cardamom pods

Method

Preheat oven to 200 deg C. Grease and line the bottom a loaf tin (18x11x8cm) with baking parchment. Combine the flax seeds with water and leave for 15 mins to form a gel. Mix the plant milk with the apple cider vinegar and set aside.

In a medium saucepan, cook the dates with the measured water until all of the water is soaked up and forms a paste (I mashed mine with a potato masher). It takes about 5 minutes. When the water has just been soaked up, remove the pan and stir in 1 tsp of the bicarb. The mixture will fizz. Keep on mixing until most of the fizzing has stopped and leave the paste to cool.

Bake the bananas in the oven for about 3 mins until the skins blacken. Remove from the oven, set aside to cool and turn down the temperature to 170 deg C and toast the pecans on a baking tray for around 5 minutes until slightly toasted. Chop when cool.

In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and add the remaining 1 tsp of bicarb. Peel the bananas and mash 200g into the dates. Add the apple puree, molasses, oil and vanilla extract to the milk. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the milk mix, date and banana mix, the flax seed gel and finally the pecans. Mix thoroughly to combine by lightly folding everything together. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 30 mins, rotating the tin halfway. Reduce to 160 deg C and bake for a further 20 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Leave the loaf to cool completely before removing from the tin.

In a medium saucepan, bring all of the sauce ingredients to a boil, stirring to combine. Turn down the heat to a medium rolling boil and reduce the sauce for 10 mins, stirring now and again so it does not catch. It will start to thicken and take on a caramel colour. Remove the seeds with a slotted spoon. Pour into a bowl and set aside.

When ready to serve, whisk the sauce, pour into a jug and serve over slices of the loaf with extra chopped pecans. The loaf can be served either warmed or cold and will keep for five days.