Date and Walnut Tea Loaf- vegan, sugar free

Great with dairy-free spread or butter!

Fresh out of the oven...

"Tea loaf" or "tea bread" cakes aren't just named so because they are a delicious treat at tea time; they also traditionally contain tea. In this cake we're going for natural and healthy, so as well as wholemeal flour and date syrup instead of sugar we have replaced ordinary black tea with subtly-flavoured and caffeine-free rooibos (aka redbush) tea for a mellower take on tea and cake. This was the first time I had made this particular cake, and I think next time I will change the amount of walnuts to 150g and make the tea a little stronger just to make it extra-luxurious!

400g wholemeal flour
4 tsps baking powder
1 rounded tsp ground cinnamon
150g dried dates, stoned and chopped
100g walnut halves, roughly chopped
400ml redbush tea, made with 2 teabags
150ml sunflower oil
200ml date syrup

• Oil and flour your loaf tin and preheat your oven to 180C.
• Mix the flour, baking powder, dates and walnuts in a large bowl.
• Whisk or beat the tea, oil and date syrup until thoroughly mixed.
• Add the tea mixture to the bowl and combine thoroughly.
• Spoon it into the loaf tin and bake for about 25 minutes, until a thin skewer inserted into the centre of the cake emerges clean.
• Enjoy plain or topped with dairy-free spread/ butter, and a nice hot drink :)