Banana Date Pound Cake

The quatre quarts — literally "four quarters" — is one of the most traditional of all French cakes, made with equal weights of butter, sugar, flour and eggs. It is the cake I grew up with, the one my grandmother Geneviève made for le goûter — that beloved French afternoon ritual, a small sweet something to bridge the gap between lunch and dinner that every French child looks forward to. Every grandmother has her version, and once you have learned the ratio it stays with you forever.

This is my own version of the classic, and the magic ingredient is the dates — sticky, deeply sweet and almost caramel-like, they transform the simple quatre quarts into something altogether more interesting. The bananas add natural moisture, but it is the dates that people ask about. The method is wonderfully simple and the cake keeps beautifully for several days — like most good French cakes, it is arguably even better the day after baking. Serve it at goûter time with a cup of something warm, exactly as it was always intended.