warm, moist, date cake with syrupy caramel sauce drizzled on top. mmmmm,
Sounds delicious, right? This cake tastes as amazing as it sounds. I had it for the first time a few years back and my family raved over how amazing it was. It has now become one of our favorite desserts that I especially love to make in Ramadan, when dates are in abundant supply.
Ingredients:
Cake
- 1 3/4 cups pitted dates, chopped
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1/3 cup butter
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups self rising flour* (see note below for how to make your own self-rising flour)
Sauce
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/3 cup butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions:
Begin by removing the seeds from the dates. Chop dates into small pieces.
My sous chef, aka my daughter, helped with the chopping part. Don’t worry, I was supervising her so calm down y’all! 😉
Collect the chopped dates into a bowl. Add the baking soda over the dates and pour the boiling water on top.
The date mixture will look like this. Set it aside to soften.
In a separate mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar.
Add in the eggs.
Beat eggs to combine.
Now, add the self rising flour* and date mixture (with water) to the egg mixture. Stir well to combine.
Pour the batter into a 9 inch greased pie plate. Place the dish in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 to 40 minutes.
Voila! The date cake is done. Check to ensure the cake is cooked through by sticking a tester in the middle and making sure it comes out clean. It will be a deep brown color.
Now, it’s time to make the yummy caramel sauce (you can also prepare the sauce while the cake is in the oven to save time).
In a small saucepan, combine the brown sugar and butter. Cook the mixture over medium heat for about 5 minutes, making sure to stir continuously. The mixture will bubble. Do not be in a rush to add in the cream, otherwise the caramel will not come together properly.
Add in the cream and vanilla extract.
Keep stirring until the mixture turns into caramel, it will be a deep brown color. Now it’s time to put everything together!
Poke holes into the cake using a fork. This ensures the cake will absorb more caramel. You don’t have to do this, I just like it to be extra caramel-y! Serve cake warm.
I like to drizzle extra caramel over the cake. Enjoy! I promise you will want another slice!
Recipe adapted from Allrecipes
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* DIY Self Rising Flour: take a little less than 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour and mix in 3/4 tsp salt and 2 1/4 tsp baking powder. Mix well with a whisk and use in recipe above.
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