This earthy date syrup cake was made for me a few days after I gave birth to my first child, Yasmin, just over 11 years ago. Yasmin was born at home, and my one request was for friends and relatives to prepare nourishing meals for us during that first week. A friend and relative, Rotem, baked this wonderfully moist, comforting cake on one of those days.
I love to serve it with thick Greek yoghurt and drizzled with maple syrup. It is delicious without being overly sweet. The key is to get good quality pure date syrup, rich and dark in quality.
Rotem’s date syrup cake
Update: A heartfelt thank you to all of you who have been visiting this site and making this Date Syrup Cake, it has been many years since I have made it and it seems to be the one cake which gets the most views, so I decided to revisit and to give a vegan option and make it shine with new photos.
Note: When replacing the eggs, add ¼ cup/30g tapioca flour to the dry ingredients. The tapioca will help bind and add crispness to the baked cake. You can use cornstarch or arrowroot in its place.
Makes 1 x 11-inch loaf pan or 8-inch square pan or 10 cupcakes (bake – 25-30 mins)
ingredients
½ cup/100g butter (room temperature) or replace with 100g melted coconut oil/vegan butter
¾ cup/255g silan (date syrup)
2 eggs or 2 Tbsp/12g ground flax soaked for 10 mins in ¼ cup/50g hot water
¼ cup/50g nut milk
rind from one lemon
1 cup/140g whole-wheat flour
1 heaped Tbsp ginger powder
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp fine rock salt
1½ cups/150g finely chopped walnuts/pecans (Blitz for a few seconds in the food processor or gently pound with a rolling pin in a zip-lock bag. Aim for a mix of powder and knobbly bits).
preparation
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Grease the bottom and sides of a loaf pan. Set aside.
2. Cream the butter (or coconut oil) and silan together using a hand mixer or whisk by hand until soft and well mixed, add the eggs (or flax egg), milk, and lemon zest. Mix well.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, ginger, baking powder, baking soda and salt, then stir in the walnuts (set aside 3 tablespoons for sprinkling on top) and fold into the wet mixture – stir well to combine.
4. Pour mixture into the prepared pan, sprinkle remaining walnuts over the top, and bake in the oven for 40 minutes or until well-risen, golden, and springy to touch.
variation
- To make this cake gluten-free; increase the flax seeds to ¼ cup/22g soaked with ½ cup/100g water, replace the wheat flour with 1 cup/130g millet flour, ½ cup/45g gluten-free oat flour, ½ cup/45g almond flour.
Goodness shared by Stacey
