Date Cake

This is a very unique and delicious cake. Its not very sweet, its just perfect. I didn't have prunes, so I used dates instead, and it was delicious..! I also didn't have buttermilk, so I just measured 1 cup of milk, and dropped a tablespoon of lemon juice (OR you can use 1 tablespoon of vinegar) - mixed them and left to rest 2 minutes and voilà! The recipe was used from The Pioneer Woman and trust me, you should try it..!

Date Cake
Adapted from The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

• FOR THE CAKE:
• 1 cup Dates
• 1 cup Sugar
• 3 whole Eggs
• 1 cup Canola Oil
• 1-½ cup Flour, Sifted
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon Allspice
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1 cup Buttermilk (1 cup of milk mixed with either 1 tbsp of lemon juice OR 1 tbsp of vinegar)
  
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• _____
• FOR THE ICING:
• 1 cup Sugar
• ½ cups Buttermilk (1 cup of milk mixed with either 1 tbsp of lemon juice OR 1 tbsp of vinegar)
• ½ teaspoons Baking Soda
• 1 Tablespoon White Corn Syrup
• ¼ cups Butter
• ½ teaspoons Vanilla

Method

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Cover dates with water. Bring to a boil and cook until soft and mashable, about eight minutes. Remove from heat, drain water, and mash on a plate. Set aside.

Mix together oil, sugar, and eggs. In a separate bowl, sift together dry ingredients. Combine wet and dry ingredients, add buttermilk and vanilla and stir gently until just combined. Throw in the mashed dates and stir gently to combine. DO NOT OVERMIX!

Pour batter into buttered baking dish and bake for 35 to 40 minutes.

While cake has five minutes remaining, make the icing:
Combine all icing ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat and bring to a slow boil. Boil without stirring for 5 to 7 minutes, or until icing starts to turn dark. Do NOT allow icing to reach soft ball stage; icing should be caramel in color, but not sticky like caramel. Icing should be easily pourable.

Remove cake from oven and pour on icing immediately.
Allow to rest on the counter. Serve warm.