Dates, coffee and spices give this cake a wonderful rich taste. It makes me think of the warm English sticky toffee pudding that you eat with cold cream. Use soft medjool dates for this date cake with coffee for the best results. Serve a piece with a strong espresso as a perfect conclusion of a dinner with friends. And don’t forget to serve with some extra date syrup and vegan whipped cream!
vegan Date cake with coffee
for 8-10 servings
90 g (½ cup) pitted medjool dates + 4 pretty ones to decorate
100 ml (½ cup + 1 tbsp) hot plant milk
2 tsp espresso powder
175 g (¾ cup) vegan butter or coconut oil, melted
a few drops of roasted sesame oil
50 g (¼ cup) dark brown sugar
20 g (1½ tbsp) apple sauce
90 g date syrup (¼ cup) + extra to decorate and serve
200 g (scant 2 cups) flour
100 g whole (¾ cup) meal flour
1½ tsp. baking powder (± 6 g)
1 tsp ginger (± 2 g)
2 tsp nutmeg (± 5 g)
1 tsp allspice (± 2 g)
also needed: Springform tin of 20 cm ø, greased and bottom and sides covered with baking paper
Heat the oven to 160 °C / 320°F. Cut the dates into small pieces and mash them in a large bowl with the plant milk. Mix in the espresso powder, butter, sesame oil, sugar, apple sauce and date syrup. In another bowl, mix the flour, whole meal flour, baking powder, ginger, nutmeg and allspice with a pinch of salt. Cut the 4 dates to decorate in half and remove the pit. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together. Put the batter in the spring form and decorate with the half dates.
Bake in the middle of the oven for 40-45 minutes. A wooden skewer that you stick in the middle should come out dry, or maybe with a few crumbs stuck to it. Take the cake out of the oven, let it stand in the tin for 5 minutes and then remove from the tin and leave to cool on a rack. Serve with some extra date syrup and vegan whipped cream.
