Date cake is an incredibly moist cake that is a delightful dessert and it doesn't even need any frosting. However, it goes quite well with a simple caramel sauce, topped with walnuts or sea salt flakes if you choose.
Next time, try this orange loaf cake.
I don't know about you but when I think about cake it brings back a nostalgic feeling of gathering with family or a cup of coffee with a friend. Or simply 5 minutes away from the kids so I can indulge in this decadent dessert where each bite is covered in a rich and velvety toffee sauce. Soon they will be clamoring for a piece, because this is date cake and everyone knows how good this is in my home.
There are often times when you want a little something or you have a friend visiting and you need to quickly put together a dessert to share. This is that recipe!
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❓Why This Recipe Works
- This one layer cake is simple, yet so delicious.
- It will become a favorite in your home as it has become in mine.
- All the ingredients are easily accessible and you may already have all of them in your kitchen cabinets.
- If you have a blender, this recipe is a breeze.
After softening the dates, the rest of the cake is blended up along with the date mixture and pour batter into a prepared pan. The two-ingredient caramel sauce is easily created right on your stove top.
📝 Ingredients
Note: This is an overview of the ingredients. You'll find the full measurements and instructions in the recipe card (printable) at the bottom of the page.
📋 Ingredient Notes
- You can use any dates you have just make sure they are soaked until the flesh is tender so it will blend easily with the other ingredients.
- Prepared pan means that you spray your pan with baking spray or simply grease your pan with butter and dust with a tablespoon of flour then turn the pan in all directions to distribute the flour evenly. Shake any excess flour off.
- You can use any table cream you find. I've used Nestle Crema as it is widely available here in the US market. You can use any toffee (caramel) recipe you like or even use a store bought one, although I highly recommend making it, as it's so delicious.
🥄 Recipe Instructions
Note: This is an overview of the instructions. The detailed instructions are in the recipe card below.
- Place dates in a deep heat proof medium bowl and cover with boiling water. Let them soak for 15-20 minutes until they becomes tender.
- In your blender add eggs, oil, vanilla extract and cinnamon.
- Next, add white sugar and then blend well.
- Combine dates with water with the mixture in the blender, blend again until everything mixes well.
- In a separate bowl combine flour and baking powder.
- Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and mix.
- Pour cake batter into an 8-inch prepared round cake pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Place your can of cream in a bowl with hot water to raise its temperature.
- In a light colored pan sprinkle sugar in a single layer then turn heat to medium. When you see the edges are starting to melt, turn heat to low and stir the sugar every now and then so it all melts evenly.
- Add the cream and stir, the mixture will bubble and be lumpy, do not worry about that.
- Keep stirring the mixture over low heat until all the lumps disappear. This will take anywhere from 10-15 minutes.
- When the cake has cooled completely pour the caramel over and garnish with some sea salt or chopped walnuts.
💡Tips
- Be extremely cautious when making the toffee as caramelized sugar can get very hot. Stay attentive to your pan and do not get distracted.
- The cake tastes great by itself but for a fancier cake make the toffee and garnish with a sprinkle of sea salt or walnuts to balance the sugary toffee layer.
- Cover and keep it on the counter for 2 days or refrigerate for up to 5 days. Cake freezes well in an airtight container for up to 2 months.
- Ran out of eggs? do not worry you can still make this recipe, checkout these easy vegan egg substitute for baking, I am sure you'll find one that you already have.
👩🍳 Variations
Date cake is already very delicious but if you want to add more to your cake besides a caramel topping, you could add sea salt flakes, chopped walnuts, chocolate chips or a drizzle of chocolate on the top. I have also seen some Americans add ice cream to make it 'a la mode' style or a dollop of whipped cream.
🧺 Storage
Cover and keep it on the counter for 2 days or refrigerate for up to 5 days. Cake freezes well in an airtight container for up to 2 months.
💬 FAQs
Dates are a fruit and they come from a tree. The date palm tree to be more specific. Picture a 50 - 75 foot palm tree but instead of coconuts, there are dates hanging in bunches at the top of the tree. These trees can be found throughout the Middle East, United States and other warm regions. Dates are picked and usually shipped dried so this is why water is needed to soften the flesh before using it in recipes.
Table cream is a light cream that adds creaminess to your recipes. It contains less milk fat (18%) and no sugar. It is perfect for cream based sweet and savory type recipes, because its neutral flavor will only add richness and creaminess to your recipes.
🥣 Equipment
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- A blender, your everyday blender will work in this recipe.
- A large bowl.
- A heavy bottomed pan for making the caramel sauce.
📣 Related Recipes
- Caramel tres leches or Trileçe is a heavenly cake that is so good for parties.
- Another classic from the Mediterranean is this revani cake.
- Pistachio and semolina cake is a great treat to end any meal.
- Chocolate biscuit cake is a special dessert for chocolate lovers. Layers for broken biscuit covered with delicious chocolate sauce and topped with an decadent chocolate ganache.
- Orange loaf cake recipe is a moist, lightly sweet cake made with fresh oranges and topped with orange slices.
- Basbousa is a traditional Egyptian dessert made from semolina flour, coconut, yogurt and soaked in simple syrup. It’s delicious and easy to make!
- Red velvet bundt cake is an incredibly easy cake, a classic with a signature tangy flavor and deep red color. This decadent delight has been a family and friends favorite for years.
- Kunafa is a traditional Middle Eastern dessert that is made with a layer of golden shredded phyllo dough, a creamy filling, and a sweet syrup. A popular dessert in many countries that is often served during special occasions and holidays.
More Recipes with Dates
- Maamoul is a traditional Middle Eastern cookie made usually filled with date. It has a soft texture and a delicate flavor.
I hope you'll like this recipe and please if you make this recipe, snap a pic and hashtag it #amiraspantry — I love to see your creations on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter!
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If you like this recipe do not forget to give it a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ star rating and attach a photo of your finished dish. It is always a pleasure of mine to see your photos and check your own take of the recipe. Thank you.
Date Cake
Equipment
- Blender
Ingredients
- 10-12 each Medjool dates pitted and halved, 150g
- 1 cup boiled water
- 2 each eggs
- ½ - 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup light tasting oil 95g/120ml
- ½ cup powdered sugar 60g
- 1 cup All-purpose flour 130g
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
For the Caramel
- 1 can all-purpose table cream 7.6Fl oz/224g
- 1 cup sugar
Garnish
- Sea salt flakes or chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Place dates in a deep heat proof bowl and cover with boiling water. Let them soak for 15-20 minutes until they become tender.
- In your blender add eggs, oil, vanilla extract, cinnamon. Next, on low speed add the sugar and then blend well.
- Add the soaked dates with it's water and blend again until everything mixes well.
- In a separate bowl combine flour and baking powder.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon.
- Pour the mixture in an 8-inch prepared round cake pan.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Make the toffee:
- Place your can of cream in a bowl with hot water to raise its temperature.
- In a light colored pan sprinkle sugar in a single layer then turn heat to medium.
- When you see the edges are starting to melt, turn heat to low and stir the sugar every now and then so it all melts evenly.
- Add the cream and stir, the mixture will bubble and be lumpy, do not worry about that.
- Keep stirring the mixture over low heat until all the lumps disappear. This will take anywhere from 10-15 minutes.
- When the cake has cooled completely pour the caramel over and garnish with some sea salt flakes or chopped walnuts.
Video
Notes
- You can use any dates you have just make sure it is soaked until the flesh is tender so it will blend easily with the other ingredients.
- Prepared pan means that you spray your pan with baking spray or simply grease your pan with butter and dust with a tablespoon of flour then turn the pan in all directions to distribute the flour evenly. Shake any excess flour off.
- You can use any table cream you find. I’ve used Nestle Crema as it is widely available here in the US market. You can use any toffee recipe you like or even use a store bought one although I highly recommend making it, so delicious.
- Be extremely cautious when making the toffee as caramelized sugar can get very hot. Stay attentive to your pan and do not get distracted.
- The cake tastes great by itself but for a fancier cake make the toffee and garnish with a sprinkle of sea salt or walnuts to balance the sugary toffee layer.
- Storage:
- Cover and keep it on the counter for 2 days or refrigerate for up to 5 days.
- Cake freezes well in an air tight container for up to 2 months.
Nutrition
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First published Feb 11, 2014 . Last updated December 22, 2022 with important tips, clear step by step instructions and readability.
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Neva
Amira, if I were to use date paste, how would I adapt it to your recipe?
Amy Elansary
Love this recipe and recently made it for my son in law who loves dates and he said it is the best dat cake he has ever had. Thank you so much for this easy recipe.
Sim
Eem I made the cake exactly as says ans followed all the instructions it's turned out horrible! My first time making a date cake. I think oil instead of butter maybe has made it taste nasty it has no flavour to it. Not a great recipe I'm afraid
Amira
Sim, oil makes cakes far moist than butter but yes butter gives it more flavor indeed. For this cake we depend more on the dates flavor to shine and not the butter. Got it? I have other cakes with butter in here if you are interested. Thanks
Sara
Hello
Great cake!
I doubled the ingredients and substitute the 2 eggs with Golden flaxseed.
But do you think using brown sugar will make the cake tender too ?
Amira
Sara, although flaxseed should work I haven't personally tested it.
Irina
Hi Amira,
Can’t wait to try this recipe, it looks so yummy! I was a little confused about something and just needed some clarification before I attempted to make this dessert. The powdered sugar goes in the blender for the cake or do we use it to make the caramel sauce? Thank you in advance!
Farida
Hi Amira,
Recently, I'm pinning lots of your recipes, but this one ohhh... I'm gonna make it very soon .. but why do we use powdered sugar instead of granulated white sugar?
Amira
Powdered sugar dissolves quicker than regular one and in this specific recipe it helps making the cake super tender.I hope this helps Farida and thank you so much for pinning my recipes, I appreciate it.
June Roberts
This looks delicious; hope to give it a try soon 🙂
Mariam
Assalam alaykum Mrs. Amira ,
Thank you for the wonderful date cake recipe, it was so delectable and moist.
My mom also made your falafel recipe, and it was very scrumptious. She has been making it a lot at home this past year because of COVID-19 as we could not eat outside. Thank you for all your great recipes!
Mariam
Amira
Thank you so much Mariam for your feedback. I am happy that you liked the cake and so honored that your mom likes my falafel.Thanks
Rehan
Asalam alaykom Amira
I’m a big fan of all your recipes. I wanted to ask if I can substitute dark brown sugar or granulated sugar for powdered sugar? Thanks
Amira
I haven't tried that Rehan.
Naveed
❤ your recipes and esp this virtual trip to madina
Amira
Thanks Naveed for your sweet comment.
Layla
Hi Amira
This cake looks amazing... But can you suggest what kind of cream i could use in egypt? I cant find cans of cream only cans of condensed milk? Would juhayna cooking cream work?
Amira
Layla, Thank you so much my dear for your question and I'm sorry for being late replying you, I'm in Egypt now and still suffering from a terrible jet lag causing me to sleep most of the day. The cream here or crema is the Nestle one, you can find it here in Egypt by the name Nestle Ashta or Eshta here is the link http://www.nestle-family.com/nestle-dessert-solutions/products/nestl%C3%A9-cream_403099.aspx. I usually buy them from Ragab sons market but they are available in almost every big store chains.
Laurie
Am I missing something? I dont see where you add dates in the instructions.
Do they go into the blender with the eggs? Do you drain the water?
Amira
Sorry Laurie, you are right I did not mention it in the post. Corrected and thanks for stopping by
Umm Abdalrahman
Assalamu alaikum, great recipes, thanks for sharing. 1 correction: Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) wasnt born in Madinah but in Makkah. May Allah bless you
Amira
Wa Alaykom Assalam dear sister,
First of all Jazakom Allah Khairan, I know he - peace and blessings be upon him- was born and lived till Hijra in Makkah!!! I have no idea how I wrote it that way 🙂 it slipped my mind or may be one of my kids kept nagging me while writing the post. I do apologize to you and my readers for thin unintentional mistake.
Thanks for your nice comment and I hope you will try it Inshaa Allah soon.
Hannah
Amazing. Want to smother this in peanut butter.
Liz
I remember my kids getting sick within the first week of school...then I'd get whatever nasty virus they brought home. But this date cake could make me forget my woes...it looks moist and wonderful!
Amira
They usually do and trick me with their school viruses :). Thanks Liz for stopping by.
John@Kitchen Riffs
I hate getting sick! So sorry you've been under the weather, and hope you're feeling well soon. Lovely looking cake -- dates have such a stupendous flavor! This must be heaven -- thanks.
Denise Browning@From Brazil To You
The cake looks very delicious...I hope you get well soon, Amira!!!!
Amira
Thanks Denise, I am getting better with some home remedies.
Gintare @Gourmantine
Oh, I hope you're doing better. I heard lots of tea (and cakes) can do miracles, but nothing can beat rest!
Amira
I've that too 🙂 cake is a wonderful home remedy for any illness ... Thanks Gintare for your comment.