Recipe courtesy of Dana, Honey I’m in the Kitchen
All hail the humble date. It’s become so trendy recently although it is one of the world’s oldest cultivated fruits dating back thousands of years. Dates are probably the fruit most synonymous with Arabic and Middle Eastern sweets. I love how, even in their most natural state, they taste as though they’ve come right out of the oven: sticky sweet with strong notes of honey and caramel. This is a date and pistachio cake baked in one of my favorite cake moulds, Fatima’s hand, from @meltingpotsdxb . The cake is sticky and moist and so rich in flavor juxtaposed against the nutty earthiness of the pistachio. Excellent with a cup of tea, or even a scoop of good old-fashioned vanilla ice-cream.
You can find the beautiful “Fatima Hand” mold Dana used for her Date cake through Melting Pots Dubai!
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servings
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- 1 1/2 cups dates pitted & chopped
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups boiling water
- 1/2 cup butter (115g) softened
- 2 cups caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essense
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup Pistachios roughly choped
- Pistachios crushed, for garnish
Ingredients
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- Preheat oven to 350F (180C) / Gas mark 4, and butter and flour your cake pan (ideally around 13" x 9”)
- Combine the chopped dates, baking soda and boiling water in a bowl and let stand for 10 minutes.
- Combine the softened butter, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl then add in the date mixture
- Add the flour and chopped nuts
- Pour the batter into your prepared cake pan and bake for about 45-55 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan before inverting.
