Date Cake

I'm a big fan of sticky date puddings. I remember one night me & Anita were out in the city, we were feeling peckish (but didnt want to eat a meal) so we were at Darling Harbour and went into Nick's Seafood. We ordered one sticky date pudding, and one bowl of fries. It was about 8PM, and the waiter looked at us with a question mark on his face and asked "is that all?"

I don't see what was so wierd about ordering chips and a dessert ?! Anyway here is a photo of the dessert from Nick's, i still remember how good it tasted, hoping to go back soon .. and maybe just order fries and dessert again :P

I had found this recipe a few mths ago and emailed a copy to myself.. but i cant seem to find where i got it from :(

The cake is incredibly moist, and surprisingly light as well. The middle was a tiny bit undercooked but i still really enjoyed eating this cake. Next time i would probably make some butterscotch sauce to drizzle on top, now that would be heaven :)

You will need a 10-in (25 cm) Springform pan and some parchment paper. (If you use a pan with a smaller diameter, the cake may remain raw from the middle and cooked from the sides, so please do use a 10 in pan.)

Ingredients:

*250 g plump dates with seed. (If using stoned dates, you’ll have to adjust/decrease the amount)

*250 ml boiling water

*1 tsp baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)

*100 g butter, unsalted, brought to room temperature

*180 g sugar

*2 eggs

*150 g flour

*2 tsp baking powder

Preparation:

*Preheat your oven to 175C / 350F.

*Place parchment paper on top of the springform pan base and trace a circle. Line pan with parchment circle and butter and flour the sides.

Step 1: Prepare the date mixture:

*Deseed your dates by gently tearing them open from top to bottom.

*Chop dates fine.

*Bring 250 ml of water to a boil (I boil it in my kettle and then measure out 250 ml to be exact).

*Pour into saucepan, when water starts to boil, add baking soda, (it will froth).

*Add chopped dates and stir the mixture for 2-3 minutes.

*The date mixture should be on the thick side, not watery.

*Take off the stove and allow to cool for at least 15 minutes.

Step 2: Prepare the batter:

*Whip butter with sugar till light and fluffy.

*Add eggs slowly; they may curdle at first but keep whipping, the mixture will come together and become smooth.

*Slowly fold in flour and baking powder and keep whipping/mixing.

*Add in date mixture, with a spoon/spatula and gently stir.

*Batter will seem slightly thin, but since we’re using a pan with a wide base, don’t worry, the cake will cook through. Remember, this is a moist, pudding-like cake.

*Pour into Springform.

*Bake for 35 minutes, test to see if the toothpick comes out clean after 30 mins; I like this cake moist and goeey, please don’t overbake it.

Allow cake to rest half an hour before taking out of Springform pan, or serve by the spoonfuls immediately, like a soft pudding, with double, triple or clotted cream on top.

Enjoy!