Date Cake

This is a super moist and tender cake that we serve with sticky toffee sauce for an amazing dessert. There is a hint of orange from the orange juice and zest that adds great flavor and compliments the dates.

The cake is quite delicious by itself but when you serve it along with the toffee sauce it makes a very rich dessert. It is rich enough that you could get 12 servings from this cake but you may want to come back for seconds.

4.64 from 11 votes

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Prep Time: 20

Cook Time: 35

Total Time: 55

Servings: to 12 servings

Calories: 598kcal

Author: Dahn Boquist

Ingredients

10 ounces dates pitted and chopped (about 2 cups packed)
1-½ cups orange juice
1 teaspoon baking soda
1-¾ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup 12 tablespoons butter
¾ cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons orange zest

Topping

Toffee sauce

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9 inch round pan with nonstick spray and line it with parchment paper.
Place the chopped dates, orange juice, and baking soda in a saucepan. Bring to a boil then turn off the heat. Let the dates soak for 20 minutes and let it come to room temperature.
Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Set aside.
Place the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl. Beat on medium speed until light and creamy.
Beat the eggs in, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla, orange zest and the dates along with all the soaking liquid. Beat well until incorporated.
Fold in half of the flour mixture until only a few streaks of flour show. Fold in the rest of the flour until well combined.
Spread the batter in the pan and bake for 35 to 43 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Serve warm or cold with sticky toffee sauce.

Notes

Soaking the dates in hot orange juice helps soften them. Adding baking soda to the liquid breaks the dates down much more efficiently and turns the mixture into a gooey, sticky puree. The date puree makes the cake super moist.
The orange juice will foam up quite a bit when you add the baking soda. Make sure your saucepan is at least 2 quarts to give room for the foam reaction. You can stick the mixture in the fridge to cool down quicker.
The dates will stick to your knife when you chop them. A little oil on your knife will help a bit. You could also purchase dates that are already chopped but they are a bit dryer and may need a few extra minutes of soaking time.
A microplane does a great job at zesting the orange and creates smaller particles of zest that will distribute more evenly throughout the cake.