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Happiness loaf cake
Serves: 10
Prep time: 30 minsTotal time: 
Recipe photograph by Ant Duncan
Happiness loaf cake
With plenty of mood-boosting ingredients, this healthier loaf cake is the perfect way to bring a bit of sunshine to your life
Serves: 10
Prep time: 30 minsTotal time:
See more recipes
Nutritional information (per serving)
Calories
268Kcal
Fat
13gr
Saturates
2gr
Carbs
30gr
Sugars
12gr
Fibre
2gr
Protein
7gr
Salt
0.7gr
Tamsin Burnett-Hall
Tamsin learned the tricks of the trade from cookery legend Delia Smith. A trusted recipe writer for the magazine for over 25 years, she is now our Senior Food Producer, overseeing testing and editing to ensure that every recipe tastes great, is straightforward to follow and works without fail. In her home kitchen, Tamsin creates fuss-free flavour-packed food for friends and family, with baking being her ultimate form of comfort cooking
See more of Tamsin Burnett-Hall’s recipes
Tamsin Burnett-Hall
Tamsin learned the tricks of the trade from cookery legend Delia Smith. A trusted recipe writer for the magazine for over 25 years, she is now our Senior Food Producer, overseeing testing and editing to ensure that every recipe tastes great, is straightforward to follow and works without fail. In her home kitchen, Tamsin creates fuss-free flavour-packed food for friends and family, with baking being her ultimate form of comfort cooking
See more of Tamsin Burnett-Hall’s recipes
Ingredients
- 50g walnut pieces
- 50g raisins
- 3 medium (or 2 large) ripe bananas (about 250g peeled weight)
- 2 large eggs
- 75ml rapeseed or vegetable oil, plus extra for greasing
- 75g light brown sugar, plus ½ tbsp for the topping
- 225g self-raising flour
- 3⁄4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- 1½ tsp ground turmeric
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp ground cardamom seeds (from about 16 pods)
- 2 tbsp milled flaxseed (or ground almonds)
- 1 large carrot (about 150g), coarsely grated
- 4 tbsp skimmed milk
- 3 tbsp pumpkin seeds
Step by step
Get ahead
The cake keeps for up to 6 days in a cake tin, or can be frozen in slices – it’s delicious toasted.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4. Toast the walnuts on a baking tray for 8 minutes, then cool. Put the raisins in a small heatproof bowl, cover with boiling water and leave to soak and plump up while you prepare the cake mixture. Lightly grease and line a 900g loaf tin (with a base measurement of roughly 9cm x 20cm).
- Mash the bananas in a large mixing bowl, then add the eggs, oil and sugar and beat with an electric mixer until pale and slightly thickened. Sift in the flour, bicarb, salt and spices. Fold in along with the flaxseed using a large metal spoon, but don’t overmix – a few lumps are fine. Drain the raisins and add to the batter with the carrot, milk and most of the pumpkin seeds and walnuts (reserve about 1 tablespoon of each for the top of the loaf).
- Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf tin and level the surface. Combine the reserved pumpkin seeds and walnuts with the extra sugar, then scatter over the cake batter for a crunchy topping.
- Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the loaf comes out cleanly with no sticky cake mix attached (a bit of moisture from the bananas, raisins or carrot is to be expected).
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Cool in the tin for 10-15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack. Slice when completely cool.TipMake it gluten free
Use gluten-free flour and add 1/2 tsp xanthan gum and an extra 2 tbsp milk to the cake cake mixture