from Amy Claridge
I have a marvellous bearded friend whom I fondly call The Marquis. He wears combat trousers, and plays cricket in Doc Martin boots painted white with emulsion. He inspired this cake. I was in his company once, when he suddenly said “Beavers at 4!” to his brother, Jason. It turned out that when they were schoolboys in the 50s and 60s, they would partake in tea and cake at 4 pm – as was the routine of their school. The general term for this cake – of any type – was ‘beavers’. So when I was trying to work out how to use up a load of Christmas dates and figs, I worked them into a traditional tea loaf recipe, and called it ‘beavers’. I could just imagine a young Marquis in shorts with grazed knees helping himself to a rather large slice whilst Jason salivated in the background.This recipe has been made numerous times since, and a couple of grease proof paper clad loafs, tied with twine, have made their way to the Marquis and his brother. I am assured that this cake tastes good at anytime of the day, and not just at 4pm.
Ingredients
• 100g / 4oz softened unsalted butter
• 140g / 5oz light muscavado sugar
• 2 eggs (never buy battery eggs) very lightly beaten
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed up. (This is a good recipe for using up bananas that are starting to go black.)
• 2 tbsp milk
• 225g / 8oz self-raising flour
• Approx. 100g / 4 oz of dates or dried figs, or both. If you hate these, I can imagine that most dried fruits would work. I’d like to try this with dried raspberries or cranberries. You could use walnuts, but I think you need the stickiness of dried fruit to make this cake feel more naughty than haughty. I often fling in a few more than this measurement – but don’t go too mad or you’ll affect the balance.
Preheat your oven to 180 / gas 4 or even better make this when your oven is engaged in something else like a roast so you can use the heat. (But don’t let your cake get splashed by fat.)
Butter and line a 1kg / 2lb loaf tin, or a tin around about this size. I have made this loaf shaped, and skinny square shaped before now.
You really don’t want to use the processor for this. I have tried it and it ends up tasting nice but looking a bit like it’s been bought in a supermarket by which I mean it will look too smooth and mass-produced.
In a mixing bowl (I like the old fashioned ones from the 30s or you can get retro-styled ones – in either case you can pick them up a boot sales for a couple of pounds) cream your sugar and sugar together. To do this, put your softened butter (leave it out of the fridge until it is squidgy to the touch) in the bowl with the sugar and ‘grind’ it together with the back of a wooden spoon. Once it starts to look as if the two are combining, go a bit easier on it. Don’t try this with butter out of the fridge; you’ll have arm muscles like a Rotweiller’s neck as it’s too much like hard work.
When it looks like one big buttery mess with sugar in it, add your eggs. You need to have beaten them lightly in a clean dish or mug. Just a light beating will do – just crack them in the bowl, break the yolks with a fork, tilt the bowl and whisk the fork round until the yolk and whites are mingling. Mix this gently into the mixture.
Next add your figs or dates, and also add the two mashed bananas. I often mash the banana in the same dish I did the eggs in – why create washing up?
Add the two tbsp of milk.
Fold these ingredients in together. You can do this with a wooden spoon or a large metal spoon. Just gently fold the mixture on to itself. Go easy when you do this, remember you are just gently introducing them not forcing them on a blind date.
Next fold in the flour – a couple of large spoonfuls at the time. Still be gentle with it, and continue until the flower has ‘gone’ and the mixture looks even.
At this point, if you have some lurking in your cupboards, you can add a little liqueur. I had a good fig one once, about a tablespoon of that went in. It intensifies the flavour. But don’t add anything like that if you don’t want to. It’s your cake!
Scrape this mixture into the lined tin. Put it in the centre of the oven. After 45 mins check it. It will need 55-60 in total but I start to check it every five mins after 45 minutes. Do this by slowly putting a clean knife into the centre of the cake after you’ve taken it from the oven. If it comes out ‘dry’ with just a hint of sticky, it has baked.
Put the cake still on its tin on a rack for ten minutes, then turn out of tin, remove the paper and allow to cool.
This makes a great picnic cake as it doesn’t fall apart and can take a good squashing. It’s also nice as a comforting pud with custard. Another good use for this cake is if you have guests popping round for a cup of tea – they seem to think you’re a bit clever but now you can see it’s just a couple of squashed bananas and not much else.
The Summary:
Preheat your oven to 180° / gas 4.
Butter and line a 1kg / 2lb loaf tin.
Cream your butter and sugar together.
Lightly beat the eggs and add mix gently into the mixture.
Add your figs or dates, and also add the two mashed bananas.
Add the two tbsp of milk.
Fold these ingredients in together gently.
Next fold in the flour – a couple of large spoonfuls at the time. Still be gentle with it, and continue until the flower has ‘gone’ and the mixture looks even.
Now you can add a little liqueur.
Scrape this mixture into the lined tin. Put it in the centre of the oven.
After 45 mins check to see if it has cooked. It will probably need 55-60 in total.
Put the cake still on its tin on a rack for ten minutes, then turn out of tin, remove the paper and allow to cool.
I have a marvellous bearded friend whom I fondly call The Marquis. He wears combat trousers, and plays cricket in Doc Martin boots painted white with emulsion. He inspired this cake. I was in his company once, when he suddenly said “Beavers at 4!” to his brother, Jason. It turned out that when they were schoolboys in the 50s and 60s, they would partake in tea and cake at 4 pm – as was the routine of their school. The general term for this cake – of any type – was ‘beavers’. So when I was trying to work out how to use up a load of Christmas dates and figs, I worked them into a traditional tea loaf recipe, and called it ‘beavers’. I could just imagine a young Marquis in shorts with grazed knees helping himself to a rather large slice whilst Jason salivated in the background.This recipe has been made numerous times since, and a couple of grease proof paper clad loafs, tied with twine, have made their way to the Marquis and his brother. I am assured that this cake tastes good at anytime of the day, and not just at 4pm.
Ingredients
• 100g / 4oz softened unsalted butter
• 140g / 5oz light muscavado sugar
• 2 eggs (never buy battery eggs) very lightly beaten
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed up. (This is a good recipe for using up bananas that are starting to go black.)
• 2 tbsp milk
• 225g / 8oz self-raising flour
• Approx. 100g / 4 oz of dates or dried figs, or both. If you hate these, I can imagine that most dried fruits would work. I’d like to try this with dried raspberries or cranberries. You could use walnuts, but I think you need the stickiness of dried fruit to make this cake feel more naughty than haughty. I often fling in a few more than this measurement – but don’t go too mad or you’ll affect the balance.
Preheat your oven to 180 / gas 4 or even better make this when your oven is engaged in something else like a roast so you can use the heat. (But don’t let your cake get splashed by fat.)
Butter and line a 1kg / 2lb loaf tin, or a tin around about this size. I have made this loaf shaped, and skinny square shaped before now.
You really don’t want to use the processor for this. I have tried it and it ends up tasting nice but looking a bit like it’s been bought in a supermarket by which I mean it will look too smooth and mass-produced.
In a mixing bowl (I like the old fashioned ones from the 30s or you can get retro-styled ones – in either case you can pick them up a boot sales for a couple of pounds) cream your sugar and sugar together. To do this, put your softened butter (leave it out of the fridge until it is squidgy to the touch) in the bowl with the sugar and ‘grind’ it together with the back of a wooden spoon. Once it starts to look as if the two are combining, go a bit easier on it. Don’t try this with butter out of the fridge; you’ll have arm muscles like a Rotweiller’s neck as it’s too much like hard work.
When it looks like one big buttery mess with sugar in it, add your eggs. You need to have beaten them lightly in a clean dish or mug. Just a light beating will do – just crack them in the bowl, break the yolks with a fork, tilt the bowl and whisk the fork round until the yolk and whites are mingling. Mix this gently into the mixture.
Next add your figs or dates, and also add the two mashed bananas. I often mash the banana in the same dish I did the eggs in – why create washing up?
Add the two tbsp of milk.
Fold these ingredients in together. You can do this with a wooden spoon or a large metal spoon. Just gently fold the mixture on to itself. Go easy when you do this, remember you are just gently introducing them not forcing them on a blind date.
Next fold in the flour – a couple of large spoonfuls at the time. Still be gentle with it, and continue until the flower has ‘gone’ and the mixture looks even.
At this point, if you have some lurking in your cupboards, you can add a little liqueur. I had a good fig one once, about a tablespoon of that went in. It intensifies the flavour. But don’t add anything like that if you don’t want to. It’s your cake!
Scrape this mixture into the lined tin. Put it in the centre of the oven. After 45 mins check it. It will need 55-60 in total but I start to check it every five mins after 45 minutes. Do this by slowly putting a clean knife into the centre of the cake after you’ve taken it from the oven. If it comes out ‘dry’ with just a hint of sticky, it has baked.
Put the cake still on its tin on a rack for ten minutes, then turn out of tin, remove the paper and allow to cool.
This makes a great picnic cake as it doesn’t fall apart and can take a good squashing. It’s also nice as a comforting pud with custard. Another good use for this cake is if you have guests popping round for a cup of tea – they seem to think you’re a bit clever but now you can see it’s just a couple of squashed bananas and not much else.
The Summary:
Preheat your oven to 180° / gas 4.
Butter and line a 1kg / 2lb loaf tin.
Cream your butter and sugar together.
Lightly beat the eggs and add mix gently into the mixture.
Add your figs or dates, and also add the two mashed bananas.
Add the two tbsp of milk.
Fold these ingredients in together gently.
Next fold in the flour – a couple of large spoonfuls at the time. Still be gentle with it, and continue until the flower has ‘gone’ and the mixture looks even.
Now you can add a little liqueur.
Scrape this mixture into the lined tin. Put it in the centre of the oven.
After 45 mins check to see if it has cooked. It will probably need 55-60 in total.
Put the cake still on its tin on a rack for ten minutes, then turn out of tin, remove the paper and allow to cool.
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