Granddad’s Date Loaf

This recipe is a family treasure. My granddad was an amazing baker but, in the seventies and eighties, men in New Zealand that baked were viewed as a bit odd (to be polite). I think Granddad felt that he would be named and shamed if he was ever found out, so he had a rule: if anyone asked, Nana baked it. And so his home baking was kept secret and he threatened that if anyone found out he would never bake again. We never let on to anyone… It’s odd, looking back, to think abo