This is a dairy-free, sugar-free recipe in Marian Keyes' Saved By Cake (Penguin, 2012). Serve with yoghurt for some tang.
240g tahini
260g date syrup (I used rice syrup)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
220g flour (I used white spelt)
1 tsp cinnamon
100g almonds, roughly chopped
150g pears, peeled and diced into 1cm cubes (you can also used canned pears, I used apples)
250ml apple juice (I used coconut water and upped the rice syrup)

Grease a cake tin and line the base with baking paper. Preheat oven to 170C.
Give the tahini a good mix in the jar to mix in the oil. Pour into a bowl with the sweetener. Add the bicarb of soda and mix again.
In a separate bowl combine flour, cinnamon, almonds and pears. Add a third of the tahini mix to the bowl and mix. Add half the apple juice and mix. Add rest of tahini mix and juice and mix in.
Pour batter into tin and bake for 45-60 min. After 30 min drop the oven temperature to 160.
Remove when cooked through and leave to cool in the tin.
It's a rich cake, so a little yoghurt helped for serving.