Date Cake
Date cake is a simple and delicious dessert. Flecked with chocolate chips and walnuts and topped with sparkling sugar, this cake is an old-fashioned holiday favorite.
Servings 24
Ingredients
- 8 ounces chopped, pitted dates
- 1 ½ cups boiling water
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- ¾ cup vegetable shortening I use butter-flavored Crisco
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs lightly beaten
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- ⅓ cup chopped walnuts or pecans
- ¼ cup coarse sparkling sugar optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line the bottom of a 9x13-inch pan with parchment paper and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
- Place dates into a medium, heat-resistant bowl and pour boiling water over the dates. Stir in baking soda. The mixture may foam up a bit, this is completely normal. Set bowl aside to cool for 15-20 minutes.
- Once dates have cooled, use an electric mixer to cream together the shortening and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add in eggs and vanilla and mix until fully incorporated. Stir in the dates and liquid.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Gradually add the dry ingredients to the shortening mixture and mix until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips and nuts.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and spread the batter evenly. If desired, sprinkle the top of the batter with coarse sugar.
- Bake in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes.
Notes
Tightly cover leftover cake and store at room temperature for up to 3 days.
You may use softened unsalted butter in place of the shortening.
This cake is equally delicious without the chocolate chips, so you may leave them out if desired.
If you cannot find chopped pitted dates at your store, you can purchase pitted dates and chop them by hand. You will need 8 ounces of pitted dates.
Make sure you know how to measure flour correctly before starting this recipe.