Date and Sultana Loaf recipe

20m prep | 1 hour cook | yield 10 slices

Ingredients

• 1 ¼ cups hot water
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 1 tblsp butter
• 250g sultanas & dates (chopped)
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 heaped tsp baking soda
• 1 egg
• Walnuts (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180C Bake – 355F
2. Line a loaf tin with baking paper and set aside
3. In a medium sauce pan add sultana, dates, butter, mixed spice, sugar and hot water, bring to the boil and 3-5 minutes stirring occasionally.
4. Remove from the heat, pour the sultana and date mixture into a bowl and allow it to cool for 5-10 minutes.
5. Add flour, baking soda, egg and walnuts to the sultana mixture and stir through
6. Pour this into the prepared loaf tin and bake for one hour. This loaf is cooked when a skewer or knife comes out clean, with only moist crumbs remaining but no batter.
7. Remove from the oven once baked and allow the loaf to cool for 20 minutes before removing from the pan and cool on a wire rack
8. Can be stored in an airtight container for up to 4 days or stored frozen.
9. Serve as is or with butter or margarine.