Adventures In Sticky Cakes
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I’m going to make a bold statement: dates are an under-appreciated food. There. I said it. And I’m going to stand by that statement.
Oh, you wanted more than that? Well, okay, here’s a little information about dates, followed by a genuinely fantastic recipe. According to the Google, “Dates are packed with essential vitamins and minerals, including potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, vitamin B6, and copper.” They are quite sweet, which makes them an excellent natural sweetener for things like smoothies or baked goods (or “healthy” peanut butter balls). But even though they have lots of sugar, they also have quite a lot of fiber, which slows the absorption of sugar into your body and also improves gut health. It also doesn’t hurt at all that they are delicious.
I almost always have a container of pitted organic dates in the pantry, both for snacking and for baking. And I recently made one of the best date recipes I have, Toffee Date Cake. It’s so easy…start by roughly chopping your dates, sprinkling them with just a little baking soda, and then pouring boiling water over the top. Let this whole concoction sit for a little bit and then blend it smooth. For this, I like to use my fabulous (and versatile) Cuisinart immersion blender, which I bought for myself a few years back. This is such a great tool…the only thing that could make it better is if it was cordless, like my hand mixer.
Ahem. Back to baking. Combine melted butter with brown sugar, add eggs, vanilla, and the date mixture, and then finally mix in the dry ingredients just until combined. Don’t overmix this. Bake it in a greased 8”x8” pan for 20-30 minutes, until a wooden toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean or with a couple crumbs attached.
While the cake is baking, make your toffee sauce. So simple…butter, cream, brown sugar, vanilla, and a generous pinch of salt. Simmer it for about 10 minutes and keep whisking while it cooks. Burnt sauce is nasty. After about 10 minutes, it will thicken a little bit, at which point you can take it off the heat. If you’re planning to serve it soon, it’s easiest to just leave it in the pan. If you’re planning to store it for later, let it cool a little, then store it in an airtight glass container in the fridge.
When the cake is done baking, let it cool in its pan. Unlike most cakes, you can cut this one while it’s still warm, if you wish. It’s rather nice to serve freshly-made warm cake and sauce. Cut the cake into nine pieces, and serve each piece with a spoonful of your toffee sauce. Yum! If you want to get super fancy, you could make some slight-sweetened whipped cream, and add that and a pinch of salt over the top, but I think the cake and the sauce are amazing just by themselves. If you serve it later when the sauce has been refrigerated, just scoop a spoonful out (it will be solid) of your jar, plop it on top of a piece of cake, and put the whole thing in the microwave on low-medium power for 15-30 seconds.
The cake is very moist and sweet, and the carmel-y toffee sauce is next-level delicious. I recently served this to my friend Bea when we had dinner together, and she raved about it. And quite right she is, too.
Once you’ve made this cake, you might decide that it needs a little more spice. If so, you could add a small pinch of cloves, a pinch of nutmeg, or maybe a bit of cinnamon. Be careful with the spice…you don’t want it to overpower the toffee sauce. Oh, and speaking of the sauce…you can make it by itself and store it to serve over things like ice cream, or drizzled over a chocolate brownie. So good…
Toffee Date Cake
Click here for printable PDF of recipe
INGREDIENTS
Cake:
1 cup (155 g) chopped, pitted dates
1 cup boiling water
1/2 tsp baking soda
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla
2 large eggs, plus 1 egg yolk, room temperature
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
Sauce:
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla
Large pinch of salt
Optional garnish:
sea salt
lightly sweetened whipped cream
DIRECTIONS
Make the cake:
Place chopped dates in a heatproof bowl. Sprinkle the baking soda over the top, pour in the boiling water over them and stir in the baking soda. Cover the bowl and set it aside for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, heat oven to 350°. Prepare an 8x8-inch baking dish with cooking spray or butter.
Blend date-water mixture in a blender or food processor until smooth. In a large bowl, combine the melted butter and sugar. Whisk in the egg, then salt. Add the dates and vanilla, then the flour and baking powder. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 20-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in its baking dish on a cooling rack.
Make the sauce:
Combine butter, cream, sugar, salt, and vanilla in a larger saucepan than you think you’ll need over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Whisk for about 10 minutes, until the mixture thickens slightly.
To serve: Cut the cake into 9 squares (still warm is just fine). Drizzle each slice with toffee sauce. Add a pinch of sea salt and a dollop of whipped cream, if desired.
Cake can be stored tightly covered for 3-4 days. The sauce needs to be stored tightly covered in the fridge and can be reheated in the microwave for serving.
