Sticky Date Cake
The fluffiest sticky date cake! Even if you don’t like dates, this dessert will surely win you over. The dates add a wonderful caramel flavor to the batter, and the cake itself is smothered in a homemade toffee sauce
Ingredients
Before we get into the recipe, I was only going to provide gram measurements, but to show why weighed measurements are so important, I included the exact weight for each ingredient alongside the difference in how cup measurements don’t perfectly give you the correct amount. So please keep that in mind if you choose to go with the cup measurement route
Date paste
- 200 grams Pitted Medjool dates, chopped
- 240 ml Boiling water or whole milk (one cup)
- 1 tsp baking soda
Cake batter
- 60 grams Salted butter, room temperature (1/4 cup of butter is 55 grams, so a little over 1/4 cup of butter)
- 60 ml Avocado oil (1/4 cup of oil is 55 grams, so a little over 1/4 cup of oil)
- 165 grams Brown sugar light, or dark (3/4 cup)
- 2 Eggs, room temperature
- 2 tsp Vanilla extract or 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 180 grams All-purpose flour (1 1/2 cup of flour is 190 grams, so 180 grams would be a little less than 1 1/2 grams)
- 1 tsp Baking powder
- 1/4 tsp Ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp Fine sea salt
Toffee sauce
- 145 grams Brown sugar Dark, or light (2/3 cup)
- 120 ml Heavy cream 1/2 cup
- 60 grams Unsalted butter (1/4 cup of butter is 55 grams, so a little over 1/4 cup of butter)
- 1/2 tsp Fine sea salt
- 1 tsp Vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Butter or line an 8-inch square pan
- Place the chopped dates in a bowl. Pour over the boiling water and stir in the baking soda. Let sit for 15 minutes until very soft. Lightly mash your dates down with a fork, you want a thick and jammy paste, not completely smooth
- In a large bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer cream the butter and brown sugar until smooth and slightly fluffy. Slowly drizzle in the avocado oil while mixing so it emulsifies into the butter mixture. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Stir in vanilla
- Add your flour, baking powder, ground cloves, and salt to the wet ingredients. Mix just until combined with a few flour streaks left. Fold in the date mixture along with all the soaking liquid
- Pour into prepared pan and bake 30–35 minutes, until the center is set and a toothpick comes out clean. The top should look deeply golden
- For the sauce, combine the brown sugar, cream, butter, vanilla, and salt in a saucepan over medium heat. Let it gently simmer for 3–5 minutes, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved and the sauce is slightly thickened and glossy
- When the cake comes out of the oven, poke holes all over with a skewer and pour about half the warm toffee sauce over it so it soaks in. Let it rest at least 20 minutes before serving!
- Serve warm with a dollop of vanilla ice cream, and remaining sauce spooned over. A small pinch of flaky salt on top right before serving also makes it quite delightful in my opinion