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.
- 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)
- 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)
- Chopped walnuts or pecan nuts
- Chocolate chips
- Coconut chips
- 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).
- 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.
- 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.
- In another medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and pinch of salt, whisking together until well-mixed.
- 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!
- Fold in your chopped walnuts using a small spatula
- 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
- Allow to cool before pouring on the sauce and toppings
- 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.
- 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.
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!
Nada this looks amazing, my Neice is a marvolous cook and i forwarded her the recipe- hopefully she will make it for me?
Hi. What kind of dates would you use in this recipe?
I used medium sized sukkari dates but you could also use medjool dates just use less as they tend to be larger.
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?
You definitely can double the recipe and make it in two cake pans for a double layer cake!
This looks absolutely delicious! Do you think it would work with gluten free flour?
Yes, a reader tried it with GF flour and said it worked well! Try an all purpose GF mix.
I love anything with dates in them.
Will definitely try this.
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.
LOVE THIS! my friend and I made this using medjool dates! THEYRE SO SWEET
so delicious
This cake was absolutely excellent even without the caramel sauce, using olive oil instead, and with less sugar, a lovely vegan treat!!
THE SAUCE!!!!! its literally to die for, my girl was eating the sauce while the cake was baking, right out of the bowl hahahaha
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!
Glad you like it Sara!
I made this cake with a chickpea flour and it was amazing! Making it today again!
Oh wow, I can’t imagine the taste with Chickpea flour! Glad you enjoyed it.
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!
Amazing, thanks for sharing Genevieve! Glad to hear that it was a hit 🙂 I will definitely try making it gluten-free soon.
Amazing! Which gluten free flour blend did you use?
Would like to try this out, I’ve had this bookmarked for some time now!
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 🙂
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.
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
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
Thank you for your kind words Laura! Glad you enjoyed it.
Can i make this recipe replacing normal milk & cream and normal sugar,
Instead of vegan almond milk, coconut cream milk and coconut sugar,?
Hi Prajakta – I wouldn’t know as I am vegan and never cook with non-vegan ingredients.