Date & Nut Bread – Gluten Free & Regular Versions

I’m a big fan of a loaf tin bake. The possibilities are endless. The recipes are always pretty straightforward. They look great and can be an every day treat or dressed up and they win over a crowd. What’s not to love!

This bread has everything I love. The dates, lots of warming spices and nuts and it uses no refined sugar!

If you need it Dairy Free, then substitute the butter for your usual non dairy brand.

Vegans can sub the egg with a flax seed egg (see below) and use maple syrup or date syrup in place of the honey.

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Pear & Apple Loaf Cake

This is such a delicious, soft and light cake recipe. There’s no bells or whistles with this one. No big entrance or show stopping impact. It’s simply a hug in a cake. That probably describes it best.

A very simple recipe that comes together quickly and easily to be enjoyed by all the family. Who doesn’t love an “all in one bowl” recipe!

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Apple Loaf Cake

A very simple and delicious tea time cake full of apples and spices to give it warmth. Using both dark and light brown sugar gives the cake texture a rich, almost caramel flavour. You can opt to add in sultanas but equally, adding in dried cranberries would give a great contrast. I topped the cake with walnuts and after enjoying a slice, I think it would benefit greatly from adding some into the mix.

This cake is very moist and needs delicate handling once it’s baked. I would recommend you leave it sit for a good 20/25 minutes before removing it from the tin to a wire rack.

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Raspberry & Coconut Poke Loaf Cake – Other Flavour Options included

I follow the very talented Jo Wheatley of GBBO and have one of her baking books which I refer to regularly. She was one of the winners at the start of Bake Off and had such a passion and love for baking that I knew she would be hugely successful which she is.

Her Poke Loaf is a joy to make and of course to eat! There are lots of variations and I’ll list them below in the recipe. Jo originally covered her loaves with buttercream but for lots of reasons, I changed it up a little and am very happy with the result. I think these turn out to be the perfect “piece of cake” with that morning or afternoon break and works perfectly for a Coffee Morning.

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Fruity Apple & Almond Tea Loaf

This recipe is a twist on what we would know as a traditional  Tea Loaf. It’s got ground almonds, grated apple and I swapped whole wheat flour in place of white flour for a healthier result. As I was using dried fruit which is naturally sweet, I could also reduce the sugar quantity.

The slices of apple dipped in tea and decorated on top give it a lovely rustic look and something to bite into. When I made it, I felt it was going to be very dense and dry but it worked out really nicely and perfect with a cup of tea any morning or afternoon.

By using whole wheat flour, the recipe is changed to a healthier version with more fibre and less processed flour, plus reducing the sugar quantity is always a bonus. Sprinkling a little brown sugar on top gives it a lovely caramelised finish.

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Summer Berry Cake – Gluten Free Version included

The original recipe for this cake is what the American’s call a pound cake. It’s similar to our madeira cake mixture so the result is a more dense texture compared to a traditional sponge. It has to be like this in order to hold the addition of berries but it still works out nice and light and the addition of almond extract gives it a lovely buttery flavour.

It’s from a US blog, “if you give a blonde a kitchen” – great name!! and was used as a 4th July Independence Day cake using blueberries and raspberries. I’ve reduced the sugar quantities, removed refined sugar and made mine a gluten free version. I will put both options in the ingredients below so go with your own choice.


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Lemon & Rosemary Loaf Cake – Gluten Free

While browsing through Instagram, I saw this recipe on the Prima account – https://www.prima.co.uk/all-recipes/  It’s not hard to get me interested when I see lemon and then to add fresh rosemary to the mix, well it was so intriguing and interesting that I wanted to give it a try.

Originally the recipe has a higher sugar content which I’ve greatly reduced plus I decided to try and convert it to a gluten free version and hope it wasn’t noticed and what do you know, it worked! It’s impossible to tell this cake is gluten free. It’s been a big success and I love it. All the tasters thought it was plenty sweet with the reduced sugar quantity too. Other than cutting up the rosemary into teeny bits, it’s quick and simple to make so give it a go.

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Traditional Malt Loaf

I had such wonderful nostalgic memories flooding back when I made and ate this gorgeous Malt Loaf. Some of you might remember the Maltana Loaf? Good old Johnston Mooney & O’Brien. A slice of Maltana with butter was such a treat and when you toasted it …. oh now that was perfect!

Well it had been on my mind for months now to make one and I wanted to try and put together a recipe that was low in fat and with no processed ingredients and this is definitely it. With less than 90 calories per slice combined with organic malt extract, juicy sultanas, dates and other good stuff, it’s positively good for you 😉

Make this recipe 2/3 days before you want to eat it (I know it won’t be easy) as it is best allowed to mature beautifully into a sticky, delicious cake.

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Port, Cranberry & Orange Loaf Cake

This recipe was originally from Lynda Booth who runs her own cookery school and is a successful food writer. I immediately was drawn to the comfort and ease of it but still delivering great taste and of course, adaptable ……. well it wouldn’t be me if I didn’t change something 😉 !

I wanted to update the cake a bit so I changed the sherry to port and replaced the raisins with dried cranberries. By doing this, I was able to also reduce the sugar content. I also created a nice boozy drizzle for the top but more of that later ….

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