Monday, March 21, 2011

Cake # 9: Arabian Date Cake



On Sunday night we made Arabian Date Cake. When looking for a well-reviewed English Sticky Toffee Pudding recipe I kept running across references to Arabian Date Cake. It's made family style instead of individual servings. It also can be served warm or room temperature. This is a deal breaker for me because I hate fussing around in the kitchen with dessert while everyone else is enjoying their dinner.

The recipe did not disappoint. It was light and rich and delightful in every way. I haven't enjoyed a piece of cake so much in years.

A huge gushing thank you to leites culinaria and the book The Arab Table by May Bsisu

First off, these are dates, I didn't know what they looked like so I had to nose around the bulk section of our grocery store until I found the right bin.


Here's the recipe and my notes where I altered it:

For the cake


1/2 pound Medjool dates, pitted and coarsely chopped
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for the baking dish
1 cup sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg, lightly beaten

For the topping

3/4 cup light brown sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
5 tablespoons heavy cream

Directions:

Make the cake

1. Place the dates in a heatproof bowl. Bring 1 cup water to a boil, pour it over the dates, and let them soak until plumped, 10 minutes. Do not drain.


2. Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Coat a 7-by-11-inch baking dish with butter.


I didn't have this pan size, or anything equivalent so I went to JoAnn and bought a nice thick one from Wilton for under three bucks (with 40% coupon). This is the pan size used for brownies and biscuits... who knew?
Beetle shaped fruit of unknown origin (palm trees, aparently) make me nervous and they didn't look more appealing "coarsely chopped" so I plopped my immersion blender in and made a mush of them. Not so scary now!


3. Cream the butter and sugar together in a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or with a handheld electric mixer). Sift the flour and baking powder together in a bowl and set aside. Combine the dates and their soaking liquid, the baking soda, and the vanilla in a small bowl.

4. With the mixer on medium speed, add the egg and one third of the flour mixture to the creamed butter and beat until incorporated, about 2 minutes. Gradually add the remaining flour and beat until it is mixed into the batter. Add the date mixture and beat until well blended.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and bake until the cake springs back when tapped with a finger, or when a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 30 minutes.

Using a fork, poke holes all over the surface of the cake.
Oops, I used the knife I tested the cake with. Oh well.

6. Preheat the broiler.

Make the topping


1. Combine the butter, brown sugar, and cream in a saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring, until it bubbles slightly, about 3 minutes.


2. Pour this caramel syrup over the baked cake

My poked holes are gargantuan - not to worry, it all works out in the end.

 and then slide it under the broiler until the surface begins to bubble, about 30 seconds.


Immediately remove the dish from the oven.


Let the cake cool a bit; then cut it into squares. Serve warm or at room temperature.


We all thought this was possibly the best cake ever and I recommend if you try one cake that I've posted so far that this be the one. Serious Bliss!

Next time I think I'll use salted butter instead of unsalted and I think we'll reduce the amount of caramel topping by at least a quarter. I'll also swap out the heavy cream in the topping with fat free half n half. For reasons I can't explain, we like it better.


Don't mind the steel wool, Brayden was soldering... yes, my kid that has lit furniture on fire is now soldering. My hair is turning grey as I type this.

Recipe © 2005 by May S. Bsisu. All rights reserved.


38 comments:

Tiff said...

Thanks for the recipe! The date cakes looks yummmmmmy!

Carmen said...

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh my! Serious drool going on here - looks so easy too. One question - is all purpose flour the same as self-raising over here?

Eileen The Artful Crafter said...

Oh yummy. That looks absolutely scrumptious! I'm printing it out.

The son of a friend was assigned the lawn mowing chore. He had a knack for breaking the engines one way or another.

One day, he goes to his dad to ask if he can build an ultralight airplane with - guess what - a lawn mower engine.

I don't think so. lol.

ACreativeDreamer said...

Ohhhh dates, I love, love, LOVE dates! We are so lucky here to have a Middle Eastern market that sells them... I will have to try this! Thanks for sharing!

SellWoWAccount said...

That looks so pleasing! The name itself is already interesting, it's taste would be more than that I suppose.

Sell WoW Account

Meg Luby said...

i love your cake challenge! dates are super :) i love this! i had bookmarked a bunch of recipes to get back and comment on post vacation and this was one i knew i needed to share some love on. thanks for sharing :)
-meg
@ http://clutzycooking.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

I had friends over for dinner tonight and served this for dessert. Everyone loved it! Thanks for the great recipe;

Helen J said...

I know it's a long time since you posted this recipe but, like the last commenter, I made this for friends last night and we all loved it!
I used your suggested changes and I also made it gluten free by changing the all purpose flour for gf plain flour.
Thanks very much, I'll definitely be making this again.

vipin nair said...

Adarsh Greens by adarsh developers is an attempt to bring new dimension to residential living by introducing a novel concept of country club like residential communities. The project is conceptualized and developed on the basis of eco-friendly architecture and sustainability with the objective of creating a balanced environment for living as well as working. Adarsh greens pricing is really affordable. To know more visit our blog

bet-mantotopro said...

카지노사이트홈 I felt amazing reading this and I feel you are absolutely right. Inform me in the event that you are involved in garageband windows, that is my principal competency. I really hope to see you soon, bye for now!

Smartphone Crunch said...

Do you want to enjoy free Amazon Firestick? By 3 simple techniques you can complete your task- how to hack Firestick . These 3 steps are-
Hide your IP & Stream Anonymously
Jailbreak Firestick
Hack Firestick with Kodi

Daily Word said...

Way cool! You have some very valid points here! I appreciate you writing this article and the rest of your posts are good. nysc.org.ng Dashboard Login Portal Login

baccaratsite.top said...

Your article is very interesting. I think this article has a lot of information needed, looking forward to your new posts.
온라인카지노

baccaratsite.biz said...

Thanks for such a valuable post. I am waiting for your next post, I have enjoyed a lot reading this post keep it up.온라인카지노

ophunter.net said...

"What’s up, of course this piece of writing is truly good and I have learned lot of things from it about blogging. thanks 오피."

allstarzgameeee said...

My spouse and I absolutely love your blog and find most of your post’s to be exactly what I’m looking for. Would you offer guest writers to write content for you personally? I wouldn’t mind composing a post or elaborating on most of the subjects you write regarding here. Again, awesome weblog!
온라인슬롯


>cc

cropaa said...

Cropaa is the best company in India for providing Mobile Accessories. It also provides the mobile cover for many companies like Oppo, Vivo, Samsung, Realme, etc. it provides all products all over India. If any customer wants the best Online Shop For Mobile Accessories then he can visit the Cropaa website and choose the mobile accessories according to the requirements.
Best Online Shopping Sites In India For Clothes
Buy Clothing For Men Online In India

allstarzgame.viz said...

I know this web site offers quality depending articles or reviews and other information,
is there any other site which offers such data in quality?

my web-site: 슬롯추천

Tourtoreview said...

Are you looking for a nice quaint village near Delhi NCR? In this post, we will cover Surajgarh Farms. Keep reading to know the best things to do in Surajgarh Farms, how to reach there, and fun activities to try in Surajgarh Farms.

Voworlds said...

Amazing article..!! Thank you so much for this informative post. I found some interesting points and lots
of information from your blog. Thanks.
오피월드

sportstotome said...

Such a very useful article. You should mainly superior together with well-performing material, which means that see it: 카지노사이트

sportstotome said...

I like the way you write this article, Very interesting to read. I would like to thank you for the efforts you had made for writing this awesome article. 파워볼사이트

Vmagosucom said...


I'm extremely impressed with your writing skills as well as with the layout on your blog.
Is this a paid theme or did you customize it yourself?
Anyway keep up the nice quality writing, it is rare to see a great blog like this one these days ..

my web page; 사설경마

Voworlds said...

It’s actually a cool and useful piece of
information. I’m satisfied that you just shared this useful information with us.
Please keep us up to date like this. Thanks for sharing. 오피월드


oncagosu said...

What's up everyone, it's my first pay a quick visit
at this web site, and paragraph is really fruitful in favor of me, keep up posting these types of articles or reviews. 온라인카지노


cropaa said...

Cropaa is the best company in India for providing Mobile Accessories. It also provides the mobile cover for many companies like Oppo, Vivo, Samsung, Realme, etc. it provides all products all over India. If any customer wants the best Online Shop For Mobile Accessories then he can visit the Cropaa website and choose the mobile accessories according to the requirements.
Best Online Shopping Sites In India For Clothes

baccaratsite.biz said...

It's always a pleasure to read your magnificent articles on this site. You are among the top writers of this generation, and there's nothing you can do that will change my opinion on that. 바카라사이트

SITES 2021 said...

I am actually happy to read this website posts which carries plenty of helpful data, thanks for providing these kinds
of data.
일본야동

Yakshita said...

Thank you for posting such a great article! It contains wonderful and helpful posts. Keep up the good work

Enidhi Bihar Salary Slip

Unknown said...

GTA Online: Some Players BANNED From Entering 토토사이트! Rockstar Explains Why & More!? (GTA 5 Online)

Unknown said...

More Profitable?? MINI MARTINGALE SYSTEM - 온라인카지노 Live

Jamie Starr said...

I’ve been surfing online more than 4 hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. Please kindly check out gigato: free data app

Jay Keygreer said...

Kansas City Glass Repairs
Liberal KS Extermination
Investor Friendly Contractor
Contractors Near Me
Sell My House



Franticpro said...

Hi, I am John Smith I am Web Developer, It is an amazing blog thanks for the sharing the blog. Frantic infotech provide the iphone app development services such as an information about software development for costumer service. Frantic infotech also provide the dot net framework. Theve delopment of advanced web applications is Orient Software’s specialty and we will successfully fulfill all your web application development requirements, from small-sized to wider-ranged projects. We Also do work multiple platforms like:
Flutter app development
mobile app development
react native app development
Hardware Mobile App Development
penetration testing
angularjs web development

solococo daudomau said...

I'm impressed, I must say. Actually rarely can i encounter a blog that's both educative and entertaining, and without a doubt, you could have hit the nail about the head. Your idea is outstanding; the thing is something that too few individuals are speaking intelligently about. We are delighted that we came across this around my try to find some thing with this.메이저사이트

Casino/Toto said...

스포츠토토
먹튀검증
스포츠토토티비


Thanks for the detailed information. It will take me a while to absorb this info but I am really happy to find your article online.

HearSoundHearing said...

I have been suffering from hearing issues for the past 5 years. I was now happy as my lifestyle was going down constantly due to my hearing loss problem. One day my friend suggested HEARSOUND HEARING to get the best hearing aid in Kapurthala. Since then, I have noticed a significant change in my lifestyle. The hearing machine which I get not only increases my hearing capacity but also improves my professional life.

corbett online said...

Find cheap Jim Corbett hotels for family, single, and business travellers. When you book riverfront Jim Corbett Resorts in Ramnagar online, you may get great savings.