I’ve decided to revisit some of my previous recipe posts in the hope that somehow my mojo will be rekindled. I got this recipe here from my ever trusted source of BBC Good Food, and in spite of me not being overly fond of fruit cakes, this one really is lovely.

This cake was given a different name by Declan, because we all have that one friend…. anyway give this recipe a go, don’t be put off by the fruit – in fact, think of it as a salad (like Christmas cake, there’s so much fruit in it, is just has to be healthy!!). It is a damp cake with lemon and ginger flavours perfectly complimented by the white chocolate topping – almost like a lemony-ginger sticky toffee pudding taste!
Ingredients:
- 200g stoned dates
- 200g butter
- 300g dark muscovado sugar
- 2 eggs
- 50g fresh ginger, grated
- Grated zest of 1 lemon
- 200g self-raising flour
- 1 or 2 large Bramley apples (you need approx. 250g weight total) peeled and chopped into small pieces
- 50g white chocolate
Method:
Preheat the oven to 160°C (fan 140°). Grease and line a 20cm cake tin.
Put the dates into a small bowl and cover with boiling water.
In a small pan heat the butter until melted, stir in the sugar and allow to cool slightly.
In a large bowl beat the eggs and add the ginger and lemon zest. Beat in the butter and sugar mixture. Mash the dates and add to the egg mix. Stir in the flour and apple, and spoon into the cake pan. It is quite a runny batter.
Place the cake pan on a baking sheet in the oven and bake for around 1hour and 15 minutes, until well risen and a skewer stuck into the cake comes out with just a few moist crumbs on it.
Leave the cake to cool in the tin. Be patient. Once cooled, melt the white chocolate in a bowl over hot water and drizzle over the cake.

Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, I wish you a peaceful weekend 😊