🍰 Date cake
Date cake is a soft, moist cake made with chopped dates soaked in hot water, then mixed into a butter, sugar and egg batter with cinnamon and walnuts. The dates melt into the crumb, giving a deep caramel flavour and dark colour. It is served warm in slices with tea or Arabic coffee, often with a toffee-style sauce or a spoon of cream.
Diets
Allergens
Contains (in a typical recipe):
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 250 g pitted dates, chopped
- 250 ml boiling water
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 100 g butter, soft
- 100 g sugar
- 2 eggs
- 200 g flour, 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 60 g walnuts, chopped
Method
- Pour the boiling water and baking soda over the dates and leave for 15 minutes; mash lightly.
- Beat the butter and sugar until pale, then beat in the eggs one at a time.
- Fold in the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, dates with their liquid and walnuts.
- Pour into a lined 22 cm tin and bake at 175 °C for 40–45 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.
How to make it lighter
- Cut 10–12 thin slices from one cake rather than 8 large ones.
- The dates are already sweet: reduce the sugar by a third.
- Skip the extra sauce or cream on top and serve it with unsweetened coffee.
History
Date cake is a popular home and café bake across the Gulf, where dates are part of everyday hospitality; similar date-and-walnut loaves are also traditional in Britain.
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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →