Skip to main content
Dessert

Date Cake

A moist cake made with dates, raisins, citron, currants, butter, molasses, coffee, eggs, brown sugar, flour, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Date Cake

Why it works: Raisin and currant are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,180 recipes. Both carry gamma-nonanolactone, which smells coconut, creamy. The science ↓

Date Cake

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Chop the dates, raisins, and citron finely.

Mix and bake

  1. In a large bowl, mix the chopped fruit with currants, butter, molasses, and dissolved baking soda.

  2. Add the strong coffee, eggs, brown sugar, and flour to the mixture.

  3. Stir until well combined and pour into a greased cake pan.

  4. Bake for about 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,180 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).

  2. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Raisin + molassestop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,577 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Dates + raisintop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together358 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Flour
Provides the structure that holds the dense, fruit-filled batter together as it bakes.
Eggs
Bind the batter and help set the cake's structure as it bakes.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and contributes to browning.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic molasses to produce gas that helps the cake rise and darken.
Dates
Add moisture and natural sweetness to the cake.

The step that matters

Dissolving the baking soda in molasses. Baking soda needs an acid to react and lift the batter; molasses supplies it. Dissolving the soda fully first keeps the leavening even so the cake rises uniformly instead of leaving pockets or dense spots.

Swap the dates

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, currant, butter, molasses, coffee, egg, sugar):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Applefits better
  4. Datesthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, currant, butter, molasses, coffee, egg, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

You might also like

Molasses CookiesMolasses Cookies96 recipesCoffee Ice CreamCoffee Ice Cream91 recipesMolasses CakeMolasses Cake90 recipesRed Currant JellyRed Currant Jelly65 recipes