🍰 DESSERT
Date and Banana Mix
A warm baked cake layering sliced banana and chopped dates through a soft batter, finished with cinnamon sugar.
Burundian · easy · serves 8
prep 20 min · cook 30 min
~407 cal · 6g protein · 69g carbs · 13g fat · 4g fiber · 35g sugars · 8g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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The date and banana mix is the sweet most often named as a Burundian dessert, a homely baked cake that layers ripe banana and chopped through a simple butter batter. It is finished warm with a brush of butter and a dusting of cinnamon sugar.
In Burundi, where sweets are rare and fruit usually ends the meal, this cake stands out as a treat served with tea or coffee. Bananas grow in abundance across the country, and paired with they need little added sugar to shine.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 8
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 4 bananas, sliced
- 1 cup , pitted and chopped
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- a pinch salt
Instructions
- 1Cream the butter (or plant butter) with the sugar, then beat in the eggs (or flax eggs) one at a time.
- 2Fold in the flour, baking powder and salt to make a soft, sticky batter.
- 3Spread half the batter in a lined pan, layer over the sliced banana and dates, then cover with the rest of the batter.✎ Chef’s noteWet or oil your fingers to press the sticky batter into an even top layer over the fruit.
- 4Bake at 180C until golden, about 30 minutes, then dust with the cinnamon mixed into a little sugar and serve warm.
Burundian home baking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Bujumbura. Lake Tanganyika supplies the names. Mukeke is the fish most associated with Burundian cooking, usually served with fried plantain, alongside sangala and the tiny ndagala, dried in the sun in great quantity and then cooked into sauces.
🗺️
Burundi. Lake Tanganyika supplies the protein that the hills do not. Mukeke and sangala are the large fish, and ndagala the tiny ones, dried by the sackful and fried or stewed with tomato. Ibiharage, beans fried with onion after boiling, is the everyday plate that beans mostly become.
🌍
Africa. Africa's fifty-four nations hold cuisines as different as Morocco's slow-cooked tagines and South Africa's open-fire braai, yet shared threads run through them: ancient grains like millet, sorghum, and teff; stews thickened with groundnut, okra, or palm; and fiery condiments from Tunisian harissa to Ethiopian berbere. Staple starches, fufu, injera, ugali, couscous, anchor communal meals often eaten by hand from a shared dish, where hospitality is a point of honor.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Burundi
IbiharageBurundi's fried kidney beans with onion, garlic, and chili, served with plantain or rice.
Ibitoke n'IbiharageBurundi's beans and plantains: red beans and green cooking bananas simmered together with onion and warm spice into a filling plate.
NdagalaTiny silver fish from Lake Tanganyika pan-fried crisp with onion and tomato, a lakeside lunch of Bujumbura.
Browse all Burundi recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven.
Storing it: Store in an airtight container. Most keep 2 to 3 days at room temperature, and longer refrigerated.
Make it a Burundi meal
IbiharageDinner
UrwarwaDrink
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Date and Banana Mix?
A warm baked cake layering sliced banana and chopped dates through a soft batter, finished with cinnamon sugar.
Where does Date and Banana Mix come from?
Date and Banana Mix is a Burundian dish from Bujumbura, Burundi.
Can Date and Banana Mix be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Date and Banana Mix recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Date and Banana Mix safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Date and Banana Mix take to make?
About 50 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 30 minutes cooking), serving 8.
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