Date a Cake

Evening Tea has a special place in our memory lanes. During my hostel days, after a whole day of classes, we would really look forward to it. The girl’s common room was our usual hangout place. Cheap biscuits from our nearby grocery shop were the usual accompaniments with our tea. However, once a while a box of laddoos or a cake would arrive and suddenly the pale tea would taste great. My coterie of besties indulged in all kinds of crazy things and few of such incidents with my friends inspired a dessert triffle. More on that, in my next post. Amidst giggles and endless chatter, the cake would soon vanish. And you only wish you had saved some for the next tea session. That’s the beauty of hostel life…good food is always in short supply.

I had tasted date cake once or twice before but I clearly remember the one a friend, Zafrina got once from home. It tasted amazing. It had chunks of date and the cake was very moist. Sounds like a magic ingredient, right? So, here I am trying to recreate that cake with my twist. This would be my second recipe with the magic ingredient of date syrup. Think, I am getting little obsessed with it. But, it is my quest to create a refine sugar-free version of the Date Cake. This cake, though, a little darker in color, is perfectly moist with the right amount of sweetness in it. Moreover, the layer of date puree coupled with the crunch from the walnuts is a real winning combination. It is so easy to make and requires very little ingredients. It’s the perfect partner for your morning or evening cuppa.

Date and Walnut Cake

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: English
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS

Butter 80 g
Dates 100 g (pitted and chopped)
Orange  1 (juiced and zestted)
Date Syrup – 100 ml
Self-raising flour – 100 g
Eggs – 2
Walnuts chopped – 12-15

METHOD

1. Heat a pan and add the chopped dates along with the orange juice and zest. Cook over medium heat till the dates soften and puree like consistency is attained.
2. Grease a loaf pan (20x10x6 cm size) and line with parchment paper
   Beat butter and date syrup to get a caramel like consistency. Add in eggs, then sift in the flour
3. Fold in the flour and chopped walnuts. Divide the cake batter into two equal portions.
4. Pour the first half into the pan, spread the date puree evenly over it.
5. Pour the rest of the cake batter over the date layer and bake in preheated oven for 25-30 mins at 160C. Take the skewer test.
6. Let it cool on the wire rack before removing the wax paper and enjoy the cake.

   Note: the date puree is sticky so spoon out a little at a time and place it over the first layer.