Date Honey Nut Cake

A while back, and I mean a whiiiiile back, I asked you guys on Facebook if you had any recipe requests. Not much of you responded, and I like to think it's because of Facebook's whack settings and not your lack of interest :) I do recall though, that one person requested a date nut bread. It's taken me quite some time to process that request, but it's here! In the form of cake but in the shape of bread, I hope you don't mind ;)


Who am I kidding? There's no way you'll mind because this thing is SO delicious. If I hadn't gotten this request, I probably would have never thought of trying this combination. I'm so predictable, always going for a recipe involving chocolate, or some other flavor I'm used to. Not that dates aren't something I'm used to because I eat them all the time, but I never really thought of putting them in a baked good. And I certainly never thought of pairing them with nuts because I'm anti big crunchy things in my desserts.


But small crunchy things are okay. So I chopped my walnuts up finer and threw them in the batter. And then I tried the finished product and fell in love. Yeah, my dates sort of sunk to the bottom, probably because I used heavy medjool dates. But this just allowed me to taste the moist, fluffy cake by itself and wow, was it bangin'. And the dates and the crunch from the walnuts were the frosting on top!


I think I'm going to start doing this more often. Traveling out of my comfort zone and what not. My comment section is open to any and all requests, so speak now or forever hold your peace! 

Date Honey Nut Cake

Yield: One 9x5 inch loaf

Ingredients:

6 medjool dates
1 cup cake flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
2 eggs
pinch of vanilla powder (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray a 9x5 inch loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray, then line with parchment paper, and spray again.

Place medjool dates in a small bowl filled with hot water; allow them to soak while you prepare the cake batter.

In a large bowl, whisk together cake flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.

In another bowl, whisk together oil, sugar, honey, eggs, and vanilla until well-combined. Pour wet ingredients into dry and stir together until just combined.

Drain dates, remove pits, then chop into small chunks. Fold chopped dates and walnuts into batter.

Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. If the loaf starts to brown too much, cover with a piece of aluminum foil.

Let cool completely in loaf pan, then turn out onto a serving plate. Store, wrapped in plastic wrap, at room temperature.

Slightly adapted from The Shiksa in the Kitchen