If you love a good, old-fashioned cake, this Banana Date Cake with Walnut and Honey Glaze is the cake for you. Made with ripe bananas, sweet chopped dates and crunchy walnuts, it has a wonderful depth of flavour and the buttery sweet, nutty glaze is hard to resist!
This banana cake with dates and walnuts is perfect for any occasion plus it is 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 for afternoon tea, unexpected guests or enjoying with a cup of coffee. It’s a straight-forward, no-fuss cake recipe that comes together easily with everyday ingredients.
Why You Will Love This Banana Date Cake
- It’s a substantial, fruit forward cake – While it’s not what I would call a fruitcake, the bananas and dates give it body and the spices add a lovely depth of flavour.
- The glaze – Crunchy, buttery-sweet and delicious, the glaze makes this cake extra special.
- Keeps well – Provided it is kept in a sealed container at room temperature, this cake keeps well, and the flavour deepens and gets even better over a few days.
- Straightforward recipe – While this cake recipe doesn’t exactly fall into the realm of quick and easy, the method is clear and well worth the extra care it requires.
Baking Tips and Variations
- While you can make Banana Date Cake with a Walnut and Honey Glaze with a bowl and wooden spoon, an electric mixer makes it much easier and leads to a lighter cake.
- If you do not have self-rising flour, you can add baking powder and baking soda to ordinary flour for an equally successful bake. I’ve provided the proportions in the recipe.
- Pecans may be substituted for the walnuts.
- This cake has a pronounced honey flavour so do use a good quality honey you really like. I generally choose Orange Blossom honey and I’ve also used a mild variety of local honey as well.
- Be careful when making the glaze. Follow the recipe instructions and remember the mixture will be very hot indeed.
Banana Date Cake with Walnut and Honey Glaze – Printable Recipe
Banana Date Cake with Walnut and Honey Glaze
Servings 10
Ingredients
- ¾ cup butter, softened
- ¾ cup packed brown sugar
- 1⅓ cup self-raising flour If using all-purpose or plain flour, add 1 teaspoon baking powder and ½ teaspoon baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
- 2½ teaspoons cinnamon
- 1½ teaspoons dried ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg freshly ground if possible
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 3 tablespoons liquid honey
- 3 small very ripe bananas, mashed
- 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 large Bundt Cake Pan.
- Measure the flour (and baking powder and baking soda if using ordinary flour), cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg together in a bowl. Stir together lightly with a fork. Set aside.
- Cream the ¾ cup butter and ¾ cup brown sugar together using an electric mixer.
- Add the beaten eggs and beat the mixture together.
- Mix in the 3 tablespoons of honey.
- Add the flour mixture to the batter in the mixer bowl, in 3 additions, beating until smooth between additions. Don't forget to scrape down the bowl from time to time.
- 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, carefully filling all the gaps. 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 20 to 25 minutes. Carefully remove the cake from pan and allow to cool completely on a wire cooling rack.
- When the cake has cooled completely, make the glaze.
- Melt together the ¼ cup butter and 6 tablespoons of 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. Be careful, the mixture will be incredibly hot.
- 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 carefully 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
I slightly adapted this recipe over a decade ago from one published by BBC Good Food magazine.
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Equipment
- 1 set of cup measures or
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Comments & Reviews
I love sweet orange blossom honey… really wonderful cake. With my kids now in their early teens I won’t get a chance to see how the flavor of this cake gets better… baked goods never last more than a day now, even a large cake like this… it’s frightening the amount of food they are both consuming. Thanks for sharing this with us on foodie friday.
It is amazing how much food teenagers can eat. You’ll have to hide a slice or two of the cake to be sure you get some as well 😉
What a beautiful cake to celebrate the arrival of the autumn season!
Thank you so much, Linda 🙂
Just a quick question,did you peel the bananas? I can’t wait to try this recipe it looks delicious.
Yes, you do need to peel the bananas. The peel is very bitter. And thank you 🙂
Wow, your cake looks amazing. I love the flavor of walnuts with banana together. Can’t wait to try!
Thank you so much, Pamela!
Pinned! This looks amazing! Thank you for the recipe
Thank you, Pat, and thank you for pinning too!
Thank you for sharing at #OverTheMoon. Pinned and shared. Have a lovely week. I hope to see you at next week’s party too! Please stay safe and healthy. Come party with us at Over The Moon! Catapult your content Over The Moon! @marilyn_lesniak @EclecticRedBarn
Thank you, Marilyn!
April,
This cake looks so yummy. Congratulations, you are being featured at Over The Moon Linky Party. I hope you stop by. https://www.eclecticredbarn.com/2020/05/over-moon-linky-party_10.html
Hugs,
Bev
Thank you so much, Beverly! I’m really grateful for the feature! Have a lovely week. Hugs!
Hi April,
I can tell you that I would just love that love Banana Date Cake with Walnut and Honey Glaze to be sitting in front of me and it will be very soon, I can’t wait! Hope you are having a great week and thanks so much for sharing your awesome post with us at Full Plate Thursday,483.
Come back soon!
Miz Helen
I’m so glad you like it, Miz Helen! I hope your week is going well 🙂
Wow! That glaze looks amazing!
Thank you, Alexandra. It tastes good too 🙂