An incredibly rich and delicious date cake. Moist, sticky and bizarrely, not cloyingly sweet, even though it has sugar, dates and honey! This makes a great fuss free dessert, and when paired with a cup of black coffee? Wow. Say no more. It is the perfect after dinner combination, for staying up and talking deep into the night.
Ingredients
200g (7oz) flour
200g (7oz) sugar
200g (7oz) butter
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
300ml (1/2 pint) milk
6 cardamom pods, seeds only
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
½ lemon, juice only
1/3 pod vanilla, or 2 teaspoons vanilla essence
25 – 30 dates, pitted
6 tablespoons honey
1 sprig mint
Method
- With a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar along with the cardamom seeds, ground cardamom and vanilla.
- Crack in the eggs and mix again, briefly.
- Sift the flour with the baking powder and baking soda and mix this gently into the batter, followed by the milk and the lemon juice.
- Grease and flour the baking tin and line the bottom with half the dates. Sprinkle the dated with half the honey.
- Spread the batter over the honeyed dates and bake in the oven at 180*C for 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out dry.
- Once the cake is baked, turn it out onto a plate and arrange the remaining dates on top of the cake in a nice pattern. Garnish with the sprig of mint and then drizzle with the remaining honey.
- Enjoy – but beware this cake is a winner and you will probably have to make an extra one!
This recipe is from Season 1 Episode 4 of Minjiba Entertains, commissioned by The Africa Channel and showing on RealTime DSTV Channel 155, Emirates in-Flight Entertainment, Amazon Prime, and Demand Africa.
