Maple Date Banana Bread
This maple date banana bread is one of those classic comfort recipes that warms and fills the whole house with delicious aromas making everything just feel better.
This recipe is a great way to use up brown bananas and you can freeze them so they are available when ever you feel like making banana bread. The banana is what makes this delicious cake moist and so easy to make and to give it that extra healthy boost and taste, it is naturally sweetened with maple syrup.
My all time favourite banana recipe. Sometimes I like to get even more creative with this recipe as it is so easily adaptable. I add shredded coconut, chocolate chips, raisins and nuts…the possibilities are endless!
If you decide to give this recipe a try, let me know! Leave a comment below and rate it – it’s really helpful to me and other readers knowing what you think! And don’t forget to take a picture and tag me @thegourmetlarder or hashtag it #thegourmetlarder on Instagram or Facebook. I love seeing what you’ve been baking! 🙂
RECIPE HIGHLIGHTS
- EASE: easy.
- GREAT FOR: breakfast, picnics, afternoon tea or weekend baking.
- TASTE: sweet maple banana bread with succulent dates.
- TEXTURE: moist cake with soft pieces of bananas and dates.
- QUANTITY: 10 slices (900g / 2lb loaf pan)
- TIME: 1 hour 5 minutes
INGREDIENTS
For this delicious recipe all you need are these ingredients:
- Medjool dates
- Coconut oil
- Maple syrup
- Large ripe bananas
- Medium eggs
- Plain or all-purpose flour (BL55)
- Baking powder
- Salt – I highly recommend adding a good pinch of salt to your cakes. It might seem a bit weird, but it actually has the incredible ability to enhance sweetness, suppress bitterness, and elevate the flavour of all the ingredients, making your cake taste even better. It’s pretty crazy, the sodium in the salt sends signals to move glucose into your tongue’s sweet taste receptors, making the sweetness really pop. So, don’t be afraid to sprinkle a little salt – it’ll take your cakes to the next level!
I recommend Maldon Sea salt flakes or Cornish sea salt, but any good quality salt is fine.
WHAT VARIATIONS CAN I MAKE?
- Fats: If you prefer not to use coconut oil, replace it with an equal amount of butter. For an additional flavour, you can also brown the butter before using it.
- Water: I have used water in this recipe to soften the dates, but if you prefer you can use tea or alcohol such as rum or brandy as an additional flavour.
- Fruit: While I have made dates the main component of this cake you can use other dried fruits like sultanas/raisins or apricots.
- Maple syrup: If you can’t find maple syrup or you would prefer an alternative, try honey or corn syrup instead.
- Addition options: This recipe is easily adaptable, try adding 125 g of chocolate chips or nuts such as walnuts or pecans. Shredded coconut or raisins are also great options.
If you experiment, Please leave a comment at the bottom of the post – it’s really helpful to me and other readers knowing how you got on and I regularly update these posts and the feedback I receive helps to make the recipes even more useful.
EQUIPMENT SUGGESTIONS
I like the sturdiness of this bowl and its 4 litre capacity means I can use it for mixing just about everything in the kitchen. It is also microwave, freezer and dishwasher safe.
These different size mixing bowls are really useful depending on the amount of food you are preparing. They also have airtight lids that fit snugly to seal and keep food fresh, great for using as dry storage bowls with lids. The plastic lid of the largest bowl has a removable centre, where one of 3 graters can be used for grating cheese or vegetables.
I do own a plastic mixing bowl but I am personally not a big fan of them. These 3 bowls are on the smaller size but good for the odd cake making.
I like this model of electric hand mixer because it comes with a large stand, meaning you don’t have to always hold it.
Perfect for banana bread, lemon drizzle, pound cake and traditional loaves.
Please check out my Shop for a curated collection of some of my favourite baking equipment. The Gourmet Larder is an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
TIP: I highly recommend using metric measurements and a digital kitchen scale, rather than cup measurements. If you have ever ended up with dry, dense or crumbly baked goods, it might be because of inaccurate volume measurements, not all measuring cups are made equally. All my recipes on this blog are carefully developed so that you can easily recreate them in your own kitchen with success, using metric measurements. It is also a lot easier, less messy and you will get far better, consistent results. 🙂
If you are interested in understanding conversions, here you will find the best conversion chart.
NUTRITION
Serving: one maple date banana bread slice
Nutrition information can vary for a recipe based on factors such as precision of measurements, brands, ingredient freshness, or the source of nutrition data.
I strive to keep the information as accurate as possible but make no warranties regarding its accuracy.
I encourage you to make your own calculations based on the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
STORAGE AND FREEZING
This banana bread is a moist cake so it will keep stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Freezing: It is also easy to freeze for up to 6 months. I recommend slicing it first so that grabbing one slice at a time when you want it is easy.
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Maple Date Banana Bread
- 900g 2lb loaf pan
INGREDIENTS LIST
- 100 g medjool dates (pitted and chopped)
- 50 ml water
- 100 g coconut oil
- 70 g maple syrup
- 3 large ripe bananas
- 2 medium eggs
- 200 g plain flour (all-purpose) (BL55)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 pinch fine sea salt
Preparation
- Cake mix: Place the dates, water and coconut oil into a saucepan, gently bring to the boil. Allow to bubble for a minute and then remove from the heat. The dates should have started to break down into a paste – if not, heat for another minute or two. Then leave to cool.
- Preheat your oven to 160°C fan / 350°F / Gas 4.
- Line a 900g / 2lb loaf pan with baking parchment.
- Mash 2 bananas, add the maple syrup and then add it to the date mixture.
- In a separate bowl, beat the 2 eggs until well aerated and pale, approximately 1 minute. Stir in the date mixture.
- Now sift the flour and baking powder and add to the wet egg mixture, add any additional options if you are using them and gently fold in to combine.
- Pour into your lined loaf tin. It is quite a liquid mixture so will level out easily by itself.
- Cut the third banana in half and lay on top of the mixture in the loaf pan.
- Baking: Bake for 55-60 minutes, until a toothpick or skewer, inserted into the centre, comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and if you would like the top to be a little glossy you could pour over some extra maple syrup.
- Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the loaf pan, then remove from the pan and leave to cool or slice it into 10 slices and enjoy it warm.
Notes & Tips
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