This month’s Borough Market Cookbook Club book was Honey & Co at Home by Sarit Packer and Itmar Srulovich. At the Cookbook Club, one book is chosen and we all make something different from it. There were about 15 of us who made different recipes from Honey and Co at Home, so we got to taste a good range of dishes. This breakfast loaf is not something that I would have chosen to make, and this is the beauty of the club. I’ve made plenty loaf cakes in the past and this seemed pretty ordinary. Well, boy was I wrong. This unassuming loaf is anything but ordinary. It is packed full of flavour. The orange zest and clementine peel elevate this loaf to a whole new level. The dates are soft and sweet, the macadamia nuts buttery and crunchy.  So now I have found my new, favourite breakfast loaf.

 

Ingredients

(Makes one large 2kg loaf or two smaller ones)

150ml full fat milk

110g honey

50g salted butter

280g self raising flour

Zest of 1 orange

Skin of 1 clementine, finely chopped

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

200g Medjool dates, roughly chopped

130g macadamia nuts

2 eggs

For the topping

50g cup macadamia nuts

Sprinkling of demerara sugar

 

1.      Heat your oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F/gas mark 4. Line your loaf tin(s) with a sheet of baking paper.

2.      Place the milk, honey and butter in a small pan and heat gently until the butter has melted. In the meantime, mix the rest of the ingredients apart from the eggs in a large bowl. Pour in the melted butter mixture and use a large spoon to stir until just combined. Add the egg and stir again until fully combined.

3.      Transfer to the baking tin, top with the macadamia nuts and sprinkle with the demerara sugar. Bake in the centre of the oven for 30 minutes.

4.      Open the oven and rotate the cake for an even bake, then leave for a further 20–25 minutes. It should feel lovely and bouncy when you press it. If you are using two smaller tins, they will bake in a shorter time – I would rotate them after 20 minutes and then leave for another 20 minutes to bake fully.