It’s a Winner! Weetbix and Date Loaf

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Looking for a lunchbox treat? This Weetbix and date loaf might just be your next family favourite!

weetbix and date loaf

Based on that famous Aussie breakfast of champions, this date loaf has a delicious malty taste that goes perfectly with the sweetness of dates.

And it’s an easy recipe too.

Combine the Weetbix, sugar, dates, butter and bicarb in a bowl and add boiling water. Then let it sit for 5 minutes, so those dates go all nice and soft and gooey. 

Then add the flour and eggs and bake in the oven until golden and cooked through.

My mum made this Weetbix loaf when we were kids, and I’m still making it for my kids. The difference is I use real sugar and butter rather than margarine and artificial sweetener, which were all the rage in the 80s and 90s.

For a healthy date loaf, you can definitely use less sugar or use modern natural sugar substitutes like stevia.

Top Tips for Making Weetbix Date Loaf

Rather than crush the Weetbix, you can collect all those broken crumbs at the bottom of the box and use those instead. 1 biscuit is the equivalent of 1/3 cup of crushed Weetbix, so use 1 1/3 cups of crumbs.

Don’t let those crumbs go to waste! Turn them into cake! I collect the crumbs in a container until I have enough for a whole loaf.

Avoid having dozens of flours in the pantry and make your own self-raising flour. That way, you can add as much raising agent as you like, depending on the other ingredients in your recipe. Dense cake batters call for a little extra help to rise. Making your own self-raising flour is as simple as adding baking powder to the mix according to the instructions on the tin or recipe.

To cut the dates, use kitchen scissors and cut them in half or quarters, depending on your own preference. I like to get the kids to do this job. Confession: I always put a few extra in for extra ‘datiness.’

A note on the sugar: this recipe uses half the sugar of the original recipe from the 80s. For me, it’s just the right balance of sweetness.

But you can absolutely halve the sugar again (or use even less). And it will still taste great if you prefer it less sweet, as some commentators on Pinterest have found:

date loaf feedback

How to Serve Weetbix and Date Loaf

This moist date loaf is lovely eaten plain, but it’s also oh-so-delicious steaming hot spread with a good pat of butter melting into it.

The cake is also very close to sticky date pudding, so some caramel sauce drizzled over the top would not be ‘over-the-top’.

Freezing Weetbix Date Loaf

This cake can be frozen, which makes it an excellent option to bake ahead for school lunches.

Double the recipe to cook two cakes – one for now and one to freeze for later, or slice the cake and individually wrap slices to freeze and put into lunch boxes. It will keep in the freezer for up to two months.

Looking for more Weetbix Recipes?

For more weetbix recipes, try these healthy Weetbix and Apple Pikelets. Great for school lunchboxes!

Yield: 10 Slices

Weetbix Date Loaf

weetbix and date loaf

Easy and delicious date loaf with Weetbix as the not-so-secret ingredient.

Prep Time 8 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 53 minutes

Ingredients

  • 4 Weetbix, crushed
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 Tbsp. butter
  • 1 cup dates, chopped
  • 1 tsp. bicarbonate soda
  • 1 cup boiling water
  • 1 cup wholemeal self-raising flour
  • 2 eggs

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a loaf tin.
  2. In a large bowl, place the Weetbix, sugar, butter, dates and bicarbonate soda. Pour in the boiling water, stir well and let sit for 5 minutes.
  3. Add in the flour and the eggs, beating well.
  4. Pour into the loaf pan and bake for 40-50 minutes or until cooked through.

Notes

If you have a fan-forced oven or a non-stick pan, you may need to adjust your oven down 10 degrees or so accordingly.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

10

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 170Total Fat: 2gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 40mgSodium: 190mgCarbohydrates: 34gFiber: 2gSugar: 20gProtein: 4g

Nutritional information is calculated automatically using the Nutritionix database. Nutrition information can vary for a recipe based on factors such as precision of measurements, brands, ingredient freshness, or the source of nutrition data. We strive to keep the information as accurate as possible but make no warranties regarding its accuracy. We encourage readers to make their own calculations based on the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.

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30 Comments

  1. My son made this tonight and it’s delicious! Thanks for sharing. We’ll definitely make it again… except perhaps double the recipe :)

    1. Melissa Goodwin says:

      Thanks, glad you liked it! Good idea to double the recipe!

      1. Did I read oven temp correctly ie 18 degrees ?

        1. Melissa Goodwin says:

          Yes, but it should be 180. Updated.

  2. Cool – great recipe! Weetbix is my secret ingredient for a few things … This might sound a bit crazy but I add it when I am making burgers to the mince. I also add a little tomato sauce, fine diced onion, fresh herbs and egg but the weetbix makes the texture and flavour better somehow and healthier too I think (as well as cheaper especially when I use super lean and good for the environment – kangaroo mince).

    1. Melissa Goodwin says:

      Hey, great idea to add them to burgers – I’ll have to try that ?

  3. What a great website.
    Thank you for all your wonderful money saving ideas.
    Can’t wait to share it.

    1. Melissa Goodwin says:

      Thanks Lori. :)

  4. Hi Melissa,
    Thanks again for the great Newsletter and Recipes.
    More to my ‘Favourites’ collection.
    Have a great day and year.

  5. Catharine says:

    I LOVE this recipe! Super frugal, super easy and naturally lactose free – it serves those with lactose intolerance in our family as well, they just use dairy free spread. Thank you for a great recipe! I also just purchased your meal planning ebook – this is going to pay for itself and more! It is a game changer. Thank you so much :)

    1. Melissa Goodwin says:

      Hi Catharine, thanks for the feedback :) glad you liked the date loaf – it’s a fav for us too. I didn’t think about the lactose-free, but glad it works for that too!

      1. Marie Dempsey says:

        May I have the recipe please?

        1. Melissa Goodwin says:

          Is the recipe not showing for you?

  6. Elizabeth Burnett says:

    I live in the USA and can’t get this cereal so I am wondering if I use sugar free shredded wheat instead? Would this be okay?

    BTW my mom was from Australia .

    Thanks

  7. Is this supposed to have butter in? There’s no butter listed in ingredients or method. Thanks

    1. Melissa Goodwin says:

      Yes, apologies, I’ve been updating and making errors it seems :). 1 TBSP. of butter.

  8. This sounds amazing. Im going to try substitute the sugar for a mashed banana and it comes out at 4sp on ww for 7 slices! So good.

    1. Melissa Goodwin says:

      That’s good. Would love to hear how it went.

  9. Gillian Dawson says:

    Would this work with gluten free weet-bix & GF flour?

    1. Melissa Goodwin says:

      It should do. The texture and flavour may vary slightly. If you try it, let me know how it goes.

  10. Rhonda Edwards says:

    I have baked this cake now 4 times. I added a couple of bananas as they were getting to the overripe stage and didn’t want to waste them, plus a little vanilla and cinnamon. My hubby loves it

    1. Melissa Goodwin says:

      Great to hear you like this cake too. Bananas sound like a great addition.

  11. Jennifer Kibble says:

    Hello from the U.S!! I made this about and hour and a half ago and had to leave a comment right away.
    It. Is. Awesome!! The hard part was waiting for it to bake and cool enough to cut! Definitely going to be making this again.
    I might spread cream cheese on the next slice. The amount of sugar was perfect. I like the idea one person had about adding vanilla. That will be in the next loaf i make.
    Thank you for a wonderful recipe!!
    Jennifer

    1. Melissa Goodwin says:

      Glad to hear you liked it. Cream cheese would be lovely. I will have to try that.

  12. I just tried this recipe & it’s brilliant! I followed it exactly, except I didn’t have a loaf tin so cooked it in a square cake tin. Worked out fine – just cooked for 30 minutes. Really great recipe, thank you :)

  13. Thank you so much for your recipe we are so happy to follow the instruction because it is very easy we’ll definitely make it again.

  14. Andrea Hayes says:

    Such a great and easy recipe, I throw in a handful of walnuts as well

  15. I am not eating sugar or sweetners so could the sugar be omitted from the recipe