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June 12, 2018

Salted Caramel Date Cake

Few things in life are better than a vegan salted caramel sauce, and that my friends, is a fact. 

This week has been somewhat of a whirlwind. Although in theory one of the perks of Ramadan is short working hours – I’ve found myself desperately grasping for more time at the end of each work day, often resorting to shooting out a few e-mails after iftar or early in the mornings before heading into the office in the interest of “getting a head start” and “tying up loose ends”.

But if there’s one thing I’ve learned in my seven or so years of corporate employment it is that ends will never cease to be loose and there is no such thing as a head start when a clear end doesn’t exist. Not to sound like a Debbie downer – but there will always be more work to do, so sometimes it’s up to us to set boundaries and call it a day.


And bake a vegan salted caramel date cake.

All in the name of mental health and life-work balance, of course.

5.0 from 11 reviews
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Salted Caramel Date Cake
Author: Nada E.
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Prep time:  20 mins
Cook time:  30 mins
Total time:  50 mins
Serves: Serves 6-8
 
Naturally sweetened and bursting with moisture and dripping with vegan salted caramel sauce this date cake is the perfect baked good to bring to a potluck or even enjoy at home throughout the week as a guilt-free dessert.
Ingredients
For the date cake
  • 16 medium-sized pitted dates (about ½ cup tightly packed OR 135 g)
  • ¼ cup melted coconut oil
  • ½ cup coconut sugar (65 g)
  • ½ tsp pure vanilla powder OR 1 tsp liquid vanilla extract
  • ¼ cup mashed banana (75 g)
  • ¾ cup almond milk (180 ml)
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour (146 g)
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • Pinch of sea salt
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • ¼ cup walnuts, roughly chopped (35 g)
For the salted caramel sauce
  • 1 can of full cream coconut milk
  • ½ cup coconut sugar (65 g)
  • ½ tsp pure vanilla powder OR 1 tsp liquid vanilla extract
  • ¼ tsp sea salt (or more as desired)
Toppings (optiona)
  • Chopped walnuts or pecan nuts
  • Chocolate chips
  • Coconut chips
Instructions
For the date cake
  1. Start by soaking the dates in warm water for at least 2-4 hours to soften (if you have a high-speed blender, you can skip this step).
  2. Preheat your oven to 180 C / 350 F / gas mark 4 and lightly grease an 8-inch baking pan with some coconut oil or line with parchment paper.
  3. To a blender, add the almond milk, dates, coconut oil, coconut sugar, vanilla and mashed banana and blend until smooth - the mixture should look like a thick caramel sauce. Transfer to a medium-sized bowl using a spatula to scrape the sides of the blender.
  4. In another medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and pinch of salt, whisking together until well-mixed.
  5. Add in the flour mixture to the wet mixture a little at a time, using a whisk to mix until everything is well-incorporated and there are no large lumps - careful not to over mix!
  6. Fold in your chopped walnuts using a small spatula
  7. Transfer the mixture into your cake pan and bake for 25-30 minutes until a toothpick or knife inserted into the middle comes out clean
  8. Allow to cool before pouring on the sauce and toppings
For the salted caramel sauce
  1. While the cake is baking, prepare your salted caramel sauce. To a medium pot, add in the coconut milk, coconut sugar, vanilla and sea salt, whisking well to combine.
  2. Bring to the boil on high heat, then lower to low-medium heat, allowing it to simmer for 12-15 minutes until thickened. Be sure to stir frequently and keep a close eye to ensure it doesn't overflow as it can boil over very easily.
3.5.3226

This date cake is one that I have been meaning to bake for years, but as you may know baking is not my forte and I’m almost my own worst enemy, convincing myself that I’m better off investing my time and energy into what I do best – savoury dishes.

But alas I had nothing to fear, this cake is quite the winner. I think I can confidently say it is one of my finer baked creations. 

Not only is it naturally sweetened on account of the dates and coconut sugar, the entire recipe only contains a quarter cup of oil. That said, it definitely does not compromise on flavour. 

This cake is rich, subtly sweet and positively decadent with the salted caramel sauce and chopped nuts sprinkled on top. 
The perfect Ramadan or Eid sweet treat.
Until next time, dear readers! 

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Filed Under: Baked Goods, Dessert, Recipes Tagged With: baked goods, cake, dates, Ramadan, vegan Ramadan

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Louise says

    June 12, 2018 at 2:53 pm

    Nada this looks amazing, my Neice is a marvolous cook and i forwarded her the recipe- hopefully she will make it for me?

    Reply
  2. Anna Kanowski says

    June 13, 2018 at 11:02 am

    Hi. What kind of dates would you use in this recipe?

    Reply
    • Nada says

      June 16, 2018 at 10:24 am

      I used medium sized sukkari dates but you could also use medjool dates just use less as they tend to be larger.

      Reply
      • reyna says

        July 28, 2020 at 12:45 pm

        Hi Nada ! Made this cake las Ramadan and was a hit delicious! A bit small for my home..want to make it again .can i double the recipe?

        Reply
        • Nada says

          November 17, 2020 at 12:01 pm

          You definitely can double the recipe and make it in two cake pans for a double layer cake!

          Reply
  3. ilana says

    June 15, 2018 at 3:58 pm

    This looks absolutely delicious! Do you think it would work with gluten free flour?

    Reply
    • Nada says

      June 16, 2018 at 10:22 am

      Yes, a reader tried it with GF flour and said it worked well! Try an all purpose GF mix.

      Reply
  4. Elsje Parsons Massyn says

    June 18, 2018 at 4:00 pm

    I love anything with dates in them.
    Will definitely try this.

    Reply
  5. Micha says

    August 16, 2018 at 1:54 pm

    I made it for my boyfriend’s birthday – and it was delicious!!!
    Especially because of the salted caramel sauce. It is really good! 🙂 thank you for this awesome recipe.

    Reply
  6. Ashley Hoober says

    August 26, 2018 at 4:15 am

    LOVE THIS! my friend and I made this using medjool dates! THEYRE SO SWEET

    Reply
  7. Ashley Hoober says

    August 26, 2018 at 9:41 am

    so delicious

    Reply
  8. Edwina says

    September 8, 2018 at 11:15 am

    This cake was absolutely excellent even without the caramel sauce, using olive oil instead, and with less sugar, a lovely vegan treat!!

    Reply
  9. Bella Marin says

    November 19, 2018 at 10:25 pm

    THE SAUCE!!!!! its literally to die for, my girl was eating the sauce while the cake was baking, right out of the bowl hahahaha

    Reply
  10. Sara says

    April 9, 2019 at 9:28 am

    Sadly just eating the last slice, but already planning to make it again for the office with the leftover dates – my co-workers will love me, this cake is perfect!

    Reply
    • Nada says

      April 23, 2019 at 4:52 pm

      Glad you like it Sara!

      Reply
  11. Kathy says

    May 17, 2019 at 5:05 pm

    I made this cake with a chickpea flour and it was amazing! Making it today again!

    Reply
    • Nada says

      June 2, 2019 at 5:19 pm

      Oh wow, I can’t imagine the taste with Chickpea flour! Glad you enjoyed it.

      Reply
  12. Genevieve says

    June 6, 2019 at 5:36 am

    Wow this recipe is great! I am practising baking for a party – one attendee is allergic to nuts and another is gluten free.
    I made the following amendments and it still worked a treat!
    – coconut sugar to brown sugar (I don’t have coconut sugar)
    – mashed banana to applesauce (I didn’t have any bananas)
    – almond milk to soy milk
    – all-purpose flour to gluten free flour blend
    – omitted walnuts
    – full fat coconut milk to lite coconut milk (it’s all I had on hand)
    I took it to work and it was enjoyed by all!
    Will definitely make again – thank you!

    Reply
    • Nada says

      June 8, 2019 at 9:55 pm

      Amazing, thanks for sharing Genevieve! Glad to hear that it was a hit 🙂 I will definitely try making it gluten-free soon.

      Reply
    • Tara says

      September 12, 2019 at 6:00 pm

      Amazing! Which gluten free flour blend did you use?
      Would like to try this out, I’ve had this bookmarked for some time now!

      Reply
  13. Tara says

    October 7, 2019 at 8:33 pm

    Wow! This was such a brilliant and soft cake! I made a few adjustments based on what I had at home, so if anyone else was thinking about small tweaks here are a few:
    – I used 100g of spelt flour and used around 50g of coconut flour (actually just pulp from making coconut milk at home that was leftover 🙂 )
    – I didn’t have coconut sugar to my dismay, so used just 20g of white sugar instead.
    – I used coconut milk
    – I only had a 9′ cake pan, but it was a bit too thin though was still tasty!!
    – For the caramel, I just blended dates and coconut milk and it was perfect! Holds well too.

    Thank you Nada for this amazing cake!! You always have great recipes I can count on 🙂

    Reply
  14. Yasmine says

    December 9, 2019 at 7:12 am

    Hi Nada,

    This cake was absolutely delicious at Thanksgiving! I subbed in a gluten-free flour blend (which increased the baking time) and could not stop eating the leftover caramel sauce.

    Your recipes are brilliant!

    Shukran from California.

    Reply
  15. Alan MacPhee says

    May 11, 2020 at 2:26 am

    Hi Nada! I made this cake once and it fell. I think it’s because I used almond flour + xanthan gum. I just tried it again with fine whole wheat flour (I do not use white flour), and success! My family loved even the one that fell – this one will be positively smashing!

    Alan
    Pullman, WA USA

    Reply
  16. LAURA VERDUZCO says

    August 15, 2020 at 10:24 pm

    Perfect recipe, thank you!! I used 13 medjool dates and made my own caramel sauce by boiling a can of condensed coconut milk in the pressure cooker, then adding some salt. Yum!! I am so glad I discovered your website

    Reply
    • Nada says

      November 17, 2020 at 11:59 am

      Thank you for your kind words Laura! Glad you enjoyed it.

      Reply
  17. Prajakta says

    August 28, 2020 at 3:41 pm

    Can i make this recipe replacing normal milk & cream and normal sugar,
    Instead of vegan almond milk, coconut cream milk and coconut sugar,?

    Reply
    • Nada says

      November 17, 2020 at 11:55 am

      Hi Prajakta – I wouldn’t know as I am vegan and never cook with non-vegan ingredients.

      Reply

Trackbacks

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Meet Nada

Hi! I'm Nada, (pronounced ned-a). I create simple, healthy, plant-based recipes inspired by Middle Eastern flavours and write about leading a vegan lifestyle in the Arab world. Read More…

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