Date Cake with Chocolate Glaze

 

 

 

 My husband loves cakes and I am always looking for new and interesting cake recipes. Most of the times I try and use up the fruits that are lying around in the house and bake cakes with them. That way I dont have go around buying too many ingredients all the time. Yesterday while I was reading the latest issue of food and wine magazine I came across this interesting date cake recipe.  I had a box full of dates at home so I thought of giving this recipe a try. I made a few changes to the recipe. Must say the cake turned out very moist, flavourful and delicious. This recipe called for caramel sauce over the cake, I made chocolate glaze instead of the caramel sauce knowing that my hubby loves chocolate and plus chocolates and dates go well together. Here is the recipe.

 

Ingredients:-

12 ounces -pitted dates

2 tblsp-dark rum

2 tblsp-brewed espresso coffee (You can also use instant coffee)



1 cup -all purpose flour

3/4 cup water

1 cup-cake flour (If you dont have cake flour make it at home, recipe given below)

11/2 tsp-baking soda

1/2 tsp-cinnamon

1/2 tsp-freshly grated nutmeg (you can also use powder)

1/8 tsp-ground cloves

pinch of salt

1 1/2 sticks of butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 cup chocolate chips

4 large eggs (at room temp)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 deg. Butter and flour 9-by-3-inch round or a bundt pan.
2. In a microwave safe bowl cover the dates with rum, coffee and water and heat it on high power for 2 minutes
3. Transfer to a food processor or a blender and let it stand for about 10 minutes or until the dates are softened. Puree it until smooth.
4. In a bowl add all purpose and cake flour, add baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon.
5. In another bowl using an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar until fluffy, add eggs one at a time and beat until incorporated.
6. Add the pureed date mixture and then add all the dry ingredients and beat on a low speed until incorporated. Coat the chocolate chips in 2 tblsp all purpose flour and mix in the batter.
7. Pour the batter in the pan and bake in the center of the oven for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
8. Let it cool for 15 mins and then invert the cake and drizzle some chocolate glaze.

Chocolate Glaze

Ingredients:

2 tblsp-butter

2 ounces -unsweetened chocolate
1 tsp-vanilla essence

1 cup-sifted confectioners' sugar

2 tblsp-boiling water


1. Melt together the butter and chocolate.
2. Stir in the sifted confectioners' sugar and boiling water.
3. Beat until smooth. Let it cool down and then add the vanilla essence.
4. Drizzle over cake.
5. Add more sugar or boiling water to get the desired consistency.

Cake flour recipe

Some cake recipes call for cake flour, sometimes its not easy to find at department stores and plus its very expensive. I looked up a few recipes online and found this easy and inexpensive way of making cake flour at home. No need to buy cake flour anymore.

1. Measure out the all-purpose flour you'll need for the recipe.
2. For every cup of flour you use take out 2 tblsp from it and replace it with cornstarch.
3. Sift cornstarch and flour together. Sift many times as the cornstarch needs to be well incorporated with the all-purpose flour.
4. Your cake flour is ready!