Rich Date Cake with Coconut Caramel Sauce
The rich toffee flavour of dates meld with that of caramelised coconut in this cake to create a delicious dinner party dessert or perfect pairing for your tea or coffee break. In a healthy twist on a classic pudding, the cake recipe uses the natural sweetness of dates and banana in place of added sugar and reduces the amount of butter typically needed by more than a third.
Easy and quick to make this cake is moist and fluffy and not over-sweet. You can adjust the sweetness quotient by drizzling a few tablespoons of coconut caramel sauce over the warm, just-baked cake. Alternatively, to cater for all tastes, serve the sauce separately as an optional extra.
If you can resist finishing it in one sitting, this cake just gets better day by day as the flavours intensify. Taste, fibre, vitamins and minerals of fruit, low fat, no-added sugar, and good keeping qualities—what is there not to like?
Preheat oven to 180℃/350F.
Line base and sides of a 20cm cake tin with baking/parchment paper.
Soak chopped dates in 150ml of just boiled water for 10 minutes while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
Measure and sift flour, salt, and baking powder into a bowl. In another bowl, whisk softened butter and egg until well-combined adding a spoon of the flour mix if it starts to separate.
Mash together the banana and dates (and the soaking liquid) with a fork or potato masher and add to the butter and egg mix to make a sloppy mixture.
Stir the flour gently into the mixture until well-combined.
Pour into the prepared cake tin and bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer, when inserted, comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a rack.
Prepare the sauce while the cake is baking. Put the sugar in a saucepan over medium heat stirring with a wooden spoon occasionally until the sugar dissolves.
Add the coconut cream (take care to avoid splashes from the melted sugar) and mix well. Simmer for two minutes.
Mix in the butter, salt and shredded coconut fully, then pour a quarter to a third of the mixture over the top of the cake (preferably while it is still warm). Reserve the balance sauce in a small bowl for those with a sweeter tooth.
If you try this, do leave a comment below and let me know how it turns out for you. If you take photos, make sure to tag me @lizqoasisorganics and #lizqoasisorganics on Instagram and Facebook.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat oven to 180℃/350F.
Line base and sides of a 20cm cake tin with baking/parchment paper.
Soak chopped dates in 150ml of just boiled water for 10 minutes while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
Measure and sift flour, salt, and baking powder into a bowl. In another bowl, whisk softened butter and egg until well-combined adding a spoon of the flour mix if it starts to separate.
Mash together the banana and dates (and the soaking liquid) with a fork or potato masher and add to the butter and egg mix to make a sloppy mixture.
Stir the flour gently into the mixture until well-combined.
Pour into the prepared cake tin and bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer, when inserted, comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a rack.
Prepare the sauce while the cake is baking. Put the sugar in a saucepan over medium heat stirring with a wooden spoon occasionally until the sugar dissolves.
Add the coconut cream (take care to avoid splashes from the melted sugar) and mix well. Simmer for two minutes.
Mix in the butter, salt and shredded coconut fully, then pour a quarter to a third of the mixture over the top of the cake (preferably while it is still warm). Reserve the balance sauce in a small bowl for those with a sweeter tooth.
