Date Honey Nut Cake – a moist, tender cake bursting with flavor. This super easy quick bread cake is lovely served with tea or coffee. It’s also a nice change from standard honey cake – perfect for Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot, or any holiday!
When I received a batch of organic dates from a kibbutz in Israel, I found myself wondering what to do with them. These sweet, luscious dates on the vine were perfect for snacking, but how else could I get creative with them? Date nut cake was an obvious choice, but I wanted to do something a little different. With Rosh Hashanah coming up, my mind wandered to honey cake. The thought of sweetening date nut cake with honey seemed like just the ticket.
Voila! The Date Honey Nut Cake was born. This tasty loaf cake is a unique take on a traditional Rosh Hashanah honey cake. Dates are actually a symbolic food for Rosh Hashanah, so it’s a great choice for the holiday. In Hebrew, a date is called a “tamar,” which is related to the word “tam” (meaning “to end”) and the word “sheyitamu” (meaning “to be consumed”). Dates are eaten in the hopes that our enemies will be consumed. They also happen to be naturally sweet, which is another good reason to eat them for Rosh Hashanah (as we hope for a sweet new year). And here’s another fun fact– biblical scholars believe that the honey repeatedly mentioned in the Torah likely came from dates (and other fruits), not bees. Yet another good reason to eat dates for Rosh Hashanah!
So, what better way to enjoy dates than in a sweet, delicious honey cake? The dates provide lots of moisture, which makes this a convenient make-ahead dessert—the cake will not dry out if you make it a day or two before the holiday begins. The walnuts add some nice texture and crunch. It’s naturally dairy free, but can be topped with cream cheese frosting for extra decadence (if you’re not worried about keeping it parve).
I hope this cake ends up on your holiday table. It will definitely be on mine.
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Date Honey Nut Cake
Ingredients
- 6 ounces whole dates (3/4 cup)
- 1 cup cake flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Pinch nutmeg
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil (I use canola)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup honey
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- Nonstick cooking spray
NOTES
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Place dates into a bowl and cover them with very hot water. Let the dates soak while you prepare the cake batter.
- In a large mixing bowl, sift together cake flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together vegetable oil, brown sugar, honey, eggs, and vanilla.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir till a thick batter forms.
- Drain water from the dates. Pit the dates, then chop the fruit into small chunks.
- Fold the walnuts and date chunks into the batter.
- Generously grease your loaf pan with cooking spray. Pour batter into loaf pan.
- Place loaf pan in preheated oven. Bake cake for about 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and set on a wire rack to cool.
Nutrition
tried this recipe?
Let us know in the comments!
Other Great Recipe Ideas
Looks delicious, but I would prefer NOT to use so much oil. Do you think subbing apple sauce for some (or most) of the oil would work? I am tempted to try this as I’ve had good results in the past with this substitution. Thanks! JG
Hi Jeannie, typically you can sub up to half the oil for applesauce in simple cakes and quick breads, and still maintain a good texture result.
Haven’t made it yet but love the ingredients!
Can you used GF flour for this recipe?
Cheers Alex
Hi Alex! I have not tested it that way, but cup-for-cup gluten free flours usually work quite well in quick bread/cake recipes like this one.
Sorry, Uk here, what is ‘cake flour’ please, we use Plain flour or Self Raising, don’t want to use the wrong one. Many thanks
Plain flour will work here if you can’t find cake flour.
I’d like to make this soon. Can you substitute AP flour for cake flour? I don’t carry cake flour in my baking pantry.
Judy O
Yes, absolutely.
Wonderful. Moist and tasty. Even better the second day!
I haven’t tried this yet, but I don’t know why it wouldn’t be good! I have dates, so I will be trying it soon!
Would you please add me to your regular recipe mailing list
Thank you
Don
Done!
Can I use date honey? I bought some on Amazon and am looking for ways to use it in recipes.
Absolutely! I have used it here and it is wonderful. The end result is just slightly less sweet than the original, and slightly darker in color. So good!