Date and ginger tea loaf

1 HOUR 15 MINUTES + COOLING SERVES 10 | EASY

dates 250g, pitted and chopped

milk 200ml vanilla extract 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 1 tsp unsalted butter 100g, softened, plus extra for the tin

soft light brown sugar 150g eggs 3 large plain flour 250g, sifted baking powder 1 tsp ground ginger 1 tsp stem ginger in syrup 3 balls, chopped ICING icing sugar 150g, sifted

stem ginger in syrup 1 ball, chopped, plus 2 tbsp syrup from the jar

• Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4 and line a 900g loaf tin with a long strip of baking paper. Keep aside 2 tbsp of the chopped dates for decoration. Tip the rest into a pan, pour over the milk and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, add the vanilla extract and bicarbonate of soda, then leave to cool.

• Meanwhile, beat the butter and sugar with electric beaters until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, ensuring each is fully incorporated before adding the next. Mix in the plain flour, baking powder and ground ginger. Tip in the dates with their cooking liquid and mix well. Stir in the stem ginger.

• Pour into the loaf tin and bake in the oven for 50 minutes or until a skewer pushed into the centre comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven to cool completely.

• Once cooled, remove the loaf from its tin and onto a serving plate. To make the icing, mix the icing sugar with the ginger syrup and a splash of water, and pour generously over the cake. Top with extra chopped dates and chopped stem ginger to finish.

PER SERVING 414 KCALS | FAT 11.1G SATURATES 6.3G | CARBS 70.6G | SUGARS 51G FIBRE 2.4G | PROTEIN 6.6G | SALT 0.5G