Crunchy Caramel Date Loaf Cake Recipe
If you love sweet things, you should give this date loaf cake a try! It’s a nice change from your traditional vanilla loaf cake with the little bites of date and the sweet and crunchy caramel crust.
It goes very well with a cup of tea as well, so make sure to serve some during tea time. You’re free to have it for dessert or whenever you’d like as well though. I sure know I’ve been snacking on it almost any time of day!
Makes: 1 loaf cake | Prep Time: 15 mins | Cool Time: 20 mins | Cook Time: 30 mins | Total: 1 hour 5 mins
Cooking & Kitchen Supplies: 1o” or 26cm loaf tin | mixer | saucepan | large bowl
Ingredients for the Loaf Cake
- 160g Medjool dates
- 300 ml water
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 165g caster sugar
- 80g butter
- 2 medium eggs
- 225g flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Ingredients for the Caramel Sauce Crust
- 58g butter
- 125g soft brown sugar
- 65 ml heavy cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Do you guys have a favorite dish at a specific restaurant that you just have to order every time you go there? For me, one of those used to be a gooey caramel date cake at our favorite local restaurant. Unfortunately, it suddenly closed down years ago, so I’ve been trying to recreate some of their dishes ever since.
My date cake is not yet on par with the one they served, but it is very delicious nonetheless. And I’ll just keep experimenting until I get it right!
How to bake a Crunchy Caramel Date Loaf Cake
- Take the butter out of the fridge to let it soften.
- Remove the seeds from your dates and cut them into smaller pieces.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C.
- Add the dates, water, and baking soda to a saucepan and cook for 10 minutes while stirring frequently.Then let the mixture cool for about 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes the butter should be softened, and the date mixture should have cooled down quite a bit. Grab a mixing bowl and mix the wet ingredients (and sugar) first. Add the butter, caster sugar, and vanilla extract and combine them with the mixer. Then add the eggs one by one to the mixture. And lastly, add the cooked dates to the bowl and mix well.
- Next we go in with the dry ingredients. Slowly add the flour, cinnamon and baking powder to the mixture while stirring. Mix until all the ingredients are evenly distributed.
- Grease a loaf tin and then pour the cake mixture into it.
- Bake the loaf cake in the oven for 25 minutes.
- After 25 minutes, take the loaf cake out of the oven and leave it to rest in the loaf tin for a bit. Leave the oven on for crisping up the caramel later on.
- In the meantime, we’ll prepare the caramel sauce. Grab a saucepan and melt the butter over medium heat.
- Once the butter is fully melted, add the soft brown sugar and keep stirring until the sugar has fully dissolved into the mixture.
- Then add the heavy cream and keep stirring it for a couple of minutes until becomes nice and smooth.
- Bring the caramel to a boil and let it boil for another 5 minutes.
- Remove the caramel sauce from the heat, and add the vanilla extract. Stir well.
- Pour the caramel sauce into the loaf pan, on top of the loaf cake. Return the loaf cake to the oven, and bake it for another 5 minutes to get that crunchy caramel crust on top.
- Remove your cake from the oven and let it cool down in the loaf pan first. After 30 minutes or so, carefully trace the outer parts of the caramel with a knife to release it from the loaf tin, then remove it from the tin to let it cool further on a wire rack.
- You can eat the loaf cake when it has almost fully cooled down. Enjoy!
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