Esters, a cafe tucked away on a sleepy backstreet in East London is most famous for its ever changing seasonal menu and THAT white chocolate miso cookie. Chef and Owner, Nia Burr shares her recipe for Banana, Date & Sesame loaf. The perfect snack for morning, noon or night. 

275g plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
300g very ripe bananas, mashed (about 3)
275g dark muscovado sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons rum
140g natural yoghurt
70g sunflower oil
45g tahini
150g halva, broken into 2cm pieces
150g pitted dates, roughly chopped
3 teaspoons white sesame seeds
3 tablespoons demerara sugar

Preheat the oven to 160C fan and line a 900g loaf tin (about 25 x 12cm) with baking parchment. Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon into a large bowl. Set aside.

Place bananas, dark muscovado sugar, eggs and rum in the bowl of a free standing mixer and beat on a medium speed until combined. Add the yoghurt, sunflower oil and tahini and beat on a medium speed until combined. Add the flour mix to the banana batter and mix on a low speed until just combined - do not over mix.

Gently fold in the halva and dates.

Scrape the mix into the prepared tin. Sprinkle the top with the sesame seeds and demerara sugar.

Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes – 1 hour 15 minutes until a skewer comes out with a few crumbs attached. Leave to cool in the tin and serve with a hot beverage.