MAKES ONE 8-INCH CAKE
Oh, how I adore this cake. Perfect for everything from countertop snacking to a holiday buffet, it’s an insanely flavorful, moist, and naturally sweetened phenom. Except for a handful of dark muscovado for stickiness and depth, the majority of the sweetness here comes from dates, a magical little superfood that’s a boon when baking with natural sugars.
Here, the dates are soaked and then pull double duty—some of them are soaked longer, and pureed into a paste to sweeten and moisten the cake (you can learn more about this awesome white sugar alternative on In Public Embarrassment and Date Paste). The rest of the chopped dates get a shorter bath, and are used for texture in the cake, along with dried sweet cherries and little nubs of bittersweet chocolate. The tiniest hit of orange zest dials up the fruity sweetness of the dates, so don’t skip it.
This recipe is pictured here.
12 ounces (340 grams) pitted Deglet Noor dates, coarsely chopped*
⅓ cup (1¾ ounces/50 grams) dried cherries
1½ cups (6¾ ounces/192 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
½ cup (4 ounces/113 grams) firmly packed dark muscovado sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
12 tablespoons (1½ sticks/6 ounces/170 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
⅓ cup (2 ounces/57 grams) bittersweet chocolate (60% to 70% cacao), chopped
*The two date varieties you’re most likely to find are Deglet Noor and Medjool. The commercial, packaged dates that you’ll find whole or chopped in most supermarkets are usually Deglet Noor. They’re firmer and drier than Medjool dates, so they’re easier to chop into bits for baking, and are a more economical choice when you need a lot for a single recipe, like this cake.
1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350˚F. Lightly grease an 8-inch round cake pan and line it with a circle of parchment paper.
2. Start by prepping the dates, dividing them between 2 small heatproof bowls: Place 7 ounces (about 1 cup) into one bowl and add the cherries. Place the remaining 5 ounces (about ¾ cup) into the other bowl. Cover the fruit in both bowls with boiling water. Set aside to soften—you’ll need to soak the dates with the cherries for just 10 minutes, while the rest of the dates require a 20-minute soak.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
4. After 10 minutes of soaking time, drain the bowl containing the dates and cherries, and pat the fruit dry with paper towels. Set aside.
5. Ten minutes later, drain the other bowl of dates, reserving the liquid. Place these dates in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Puree into a paste, adding a teaspoon or two of the soaking liquid as needed, stopping often to scrape down the bowl. When the paste is smooth, you should have about 1 cup paste (see date paste for more details). To the food processor, add the sugar, eggs, orange zest, and vanilla. Process until lightened in color, aerated, and smooth, about 1 minute. With the processor running, pour the melted butter into the feed tube and process for 1 minute more. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the flour mixture. Use a flexible spatula to fold the batter until well blended. Fold in the soaked dates and cherries and then fold in the chocolate bits.
6. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 50 to 55 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack before inverting onto a serving platter.
TIP: This simple cake can go from coffee break snack to dessert superstar with a dollop of flavored whipped cream (think citrus zest, a sprinkle of warming spices like cinnamon, or a combination of both).