Pumpkin and cardamom breakfast loaf

With this great breakfast loaf, you can be best friend to the gluten-free, king of the dairy-free, and beloved of the egg-free. It is a very moist and quite unusual loaf. In the restaurants, we toast it and serve with jam and peanut butter, but at home, I enjoy it even more cold the day after baking, thickly spread with good butter and a sprinkle of sea salt.

MAKES 15 slices PREPARATION TIME 25 minutes, plus soaking

COOKING TIME 1 hour

115g dates, pitted and roughly chopped

1tsp bicarbonate of soda 1tbsp chia seeds

235g mashed cooked pumpkin 165g brown sugar

125g coconut yogurt 220g gluten-free flour 50g desiccated coconut 1tsp baking powder 1tsp ground cinnamon ½ nutmeg, finely grated 1tsp ground cardamom

1 Soak the dates and bicarbonate of soda in 115ml boiling water for 30min. Lightly mash the dates with the soaking water.

2 Meanwhile, soak the chia seeds in 2-3tbsp water for 15min. 3 Preheat the oven to 180˚C (160°C fan) mark 4. Grease and line a 21 x 10cm loaf tin with baking parchment.

4 Put all the remaining ingredients in a large bowl and mix together well. Add the chia seeds, then fold in the dates. Pour into the loaf tin and cook for 1hr, or until a skewer poked into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool before slicing. Cut into around 15 slices and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.