This Date Cake is a delicious tea cake filled with juicy pieces of Medjool dates and light orange flavors. It’s a great cake to serve with a maple olive oil caramel or peanut butter caramel and a cup of tea.
I love making healthier cakes, like my Chocolate Coconut Cake but I also love the flavors of dates and oranges together, so I made a special cake just for that.
While the whole recipe is just below, don’t miss all my tips further down, including ingredient swaps, process shots, and baking tips!
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Date Cake
This Date Cake is a delicious tea cake filled with juicy pieces of Medjool dates and light orange flavors. It's a great cake to serve with a maple olive oil caramel or peanut butter caramel and a cup of tea.
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Servings: 12 slices
Calories: 204 kcal
Ingredients
- 1 cup Medjool Dates - pitted, finely chopped, 5.5 oz/155g (note 1)
- 1 cup Boiling Water - (note 2)
- ⅓ cup Mild-Flavor Olive Oil - (note 3)
- ½ cup Orange Juice - (note 4) about 1 small orange + 1 tablespoon zest
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 2 cups All-Purpose Flour - (note 5)
- 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ cup Muscovado Sugar - (note 6)
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
Optional
- ½ cup Chopped Walnuts - (note 7)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C). Line a 9-inch round cake pan with parchment paper. Slightly oil the paper with oil. Set aside.
- Finely chop the pitted dates into small bits. I like to cut each in half lengthwise and then chop in the other direction to form small cubes.
- In a large mixing glass bowl, add the chopped dates and boiling water. Cover the bowl with a plate to prevent the water from evaporating. You will use this water in the cake batter. Set aside for 10 minutes.
- Bring back the bowl with the date/water mixture – keep the water – and stir in muscovado sugar, orange juice, olive oil, vanilla extract, and 1 tablespoon of orange zest, if you like its tangy flavor.
- Add in flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
- Stir to combine and form a smooth cake batter.
- Fold in the chopped walnuts if used, and stir to incorporate evenly.
- Pour the cake mixture into the prepared pan.
- Bake the cake at 350°F (180°C) on the center rack for 25-35 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let it cool down for 10 minutes in the pan, then transfer it to a cooling rack. Keep it at room temperature for a few hours before slicing.
Notes
Note 1: You can use other types of dates but they are less moist and the cake will be drier.
Note 2: Make sure you measure the water after boiling, you need the amount to be precise, not evaporated as it’s used as a binder in the recipe.
Note 3: Or melted plant-based butter or other light-flavor oil.
Note 4: If you don’t like the orange flavor, swap for any milk, like almond milk, oat milk, or coconut milk.
Note 5: White whole wheat or white spelt flour. For a gluten-free version, use my gluten-free conversion guide.
Note 6: You need the sugar in the cake because the dates are not blended, they don’t sweeten the cake crumb. I like muscovado sugar in this cake because it’s refined sugar-free and has more moisture than coconut sugar. Other tasty options are soft brown sugar, date sugar, or coconut sugar – but the cake is a bit dry with this last option.
Note 7: Or chopped pecans, chopped almonds, or skip it for a nut-free option as seen in my pictures.
Storage: Store the cake unsliced in the fridge in an airtight box to keep it moist and fresh. Keep it for up to 4 days. Freeze it in a sealed box for up to 1 month. Thaw it the day before at room temperature.
Nutrition
Serving: 1slice (from 12 slices) | Calories: 204kcal | Carbohydrates: 35.5g | Protein: 2.5g | Fat: 6.2g | Saturated Fat: 0.9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.7g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4.4g | Sodium: 169.1mg | Potassium: 141.8mg | Fiber: 1.5g | Sugar: 18g | Vitamin A: 39.4IU | Vitamin C: 5.2mg | Calcium: 61.3mg | Iron: 1.3mg | Magnesium: 13.7mg | Phosphorus: 47mg | Zinc: 0.2mg
Ingredients and Substitutions
This paragraph gives you all my tips about picking the right ingredients. For the full recipe with measurements, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of the post!Go to Full Recipe
You only need a handful of wholesome ingredients to make these, here’s how to pick and swap them:
- Medjool Dates – They provide sweetness and moisture, and a rich, caramel-like flavor. It’s a date cake, so you can’t swap it.
- Water – Boiled water softens the dates and helps them release their natural sugars.
- Light Olive Oil – This adds moisture and tenderness. Melted plant-based butter or other light-flavor oils are fine too.
- Orange Juice – This adds a bright, citrus flavor. Dairy-free milk works as well.
- Vanilla Extract – This enhances the overall flavor.
- All-Purpose Flour – This provides structure to the cake. White whole wheat or white spelt flour also work. For a gluten-free version, use my gluten-free conversion guide.
- Baking Powder – This helps the cake rise and makes a soft and fluffy crumb.
- Baking Soda – This helps the cake rise and adds tenderness.
- Muscovado Sugar – This sweetens the cake with a rich, molasses-like flavor. Brown sugar, date sugar, or coconut sugar also work.
- Cinnamon – This adds warm, sweet spice.
- Chopped Walnuts – They contribute a nutty flavor and crunch. Chopped pecans or almonds also work.
How to Make Date Cake
This is a really easy cake to make in one bowl. Here’s how in a few pictures.
Chop the dates and let them soak in boiling water for 10 minutes.
Pour them in a mixing bowl and add all the other ingredients.
Stir the batter until it’s just combined and transfer it to a springform pan.
Bake the cake at 350°F (180°C) on the center rack for 25-35 minutes.
Carine’s Baking Tips
Let me share a few more tips to make sure you make the best cake you can!
- Check Baking – Don’t overbake the cake! Remove it from the oven as soon as it’s golden brown and a pick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- More Crunch – Add 1/2 cup chopped walnuts for a lovely crunch in the crumb
- Moist Topping – Serve the cake with caramel to add moisture – try my maple olive oil caramel or peanut butter caramel for healthy options.
- Sugar Needed – Don’t skip the added sugar. While dates are sweet, since they are not blended in the batter, they don’t sweeten it too much. Without sugar, the crumb will be dry and not sweet, the sweetness will only appear where the piece of dates appears, which to me, is not sweet enough.
Omg – made this cake today and it was so amazing, and moist! I didn’t bother with any topping it was so good.
Drove a piece to my sister and a friend to share so I didn’t eat the whole thing myself!
Hubby really likes it and he doesn’t like dates.
Thanks for this awesome recipe!
It makes me so happy, thank you!
I tried this recipe as it sounded really interesting. I made ot in 2 loaf pans it turned out terrific. My husband liked it so much that he said, “can you tell that lady it was great.” So, IT’S GREAT!
That’s the most beautiful comment I had today, THANK YOU to both of you !
Made it for my birthday and it was a giant hit. Thank you so so much. It was super easy to make too since it didn’t have a lot of staple cake ingredients that I didn’t have at hand.
Happy birthday! And thank you so much for choosing my cake recipe to celebrate this special moment. I am glad it came out delicious.
Can you please share the brand of muscavodo sugar you use ? Thanks
Sure, that’s the one.
Thanks for this great recipe, I followed the recipe exactly, and ended up having to bake it for 50 minutes in an 8 inch round. Was I supposed to drain the water the dates were soaking in or was the extra baking time required because I used a smaller pan?
You did very well, yes you keep the water! but if you used a smaller pan, that makes a thicker cake and it explain why it’s longer to bake indeed. Thanks for baking with me.
Very good recipe
Thank you!
the date cake is soo easy to make. my friends and husband loved it, even without the sauces. I will be sharing this recipe with my senior Citizen friends. great cake.
That’s amazing, thank you!
I love this cake Just made it and added the optional walnuts. So soft and fluffy and I had it with vanilla bean yogurt So good Thank you ✨
Thank you!
Hi, I am fan and tried few recipes (blueberry bread, coconut cake, cinnamon swirl, marble cake) with small adjustment with my pantry supplies. Love your recipes as they are minimal ingredients. Question: can i tweak the recipes by: 1) using only milk without boiling water—can heat up the milk before adding to dates? 2) flour ratio—if I combine whole wheat flour + oat flour 3) Any type of dates works i guess?
That’s amazing, thank you for baking so many of my recipes. For this date cake, you can warm the milk, add the dates in it after and use only milk. The cake is lighter with a combo of water and milk, but it’s still delicious entirely with almond milk. For the flour, like in all my recipes, if you swap some of the all-purpose with wholwheat flour you will add fiber, and dry out the cake batter. It will result in a dryer crumb, less fluffy cake, this said, it still tasty and healthy. I wouldn’t use oat flour, it will add way too much fiber and pack the cake too much. Any types of dates works, but Medjool have more moisture and make the cake ultra moist and fluffy.
How can I make this cake gluten free. can I substitute almond flour fir regular flour?
Unfortunately no, you can’t swap all-purpose flour for almond flour it will never work when the recipe is egg-free like mine. I didn’t try all-purpose gluten-free flour for the cake, but it’s what I would recommend, tweaking the recipe too, adding 1/2 teaspoon extra baking soda per cup of flour and 1 teaspoon lemon juice to activate it. I would probably swap 1/2 cup of all-purpose GF for 1/2 cup oat flour to avoid avoid a gummy cake too.
hello this is my first time i have ever followed anyone at my age of 69. Your resipes look wonderful and easy. Will try and see how I go. Again thanks
Thank you so so much ! It means a lot to me, and I look forward to hear back from you on the first recipe you will back.