Date Cake

Date Cake
4 cups medjool dates, pitted and chopped
3 cups boiling water
3 teaspoons baking soda
1¼ cups (2½ sticks) margarine
2 cups brown sugar
6 eggs
3 cups self-rising flour
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 325ºF. Grease two Bundtlette pans (8 mini Bundts per pan).
2. Place dates, water, and baking soda in a bowl. Soak for 10 minutes.
3. Place margarine and sugar in a food processor and blend to combine.
4. Pour the date mixture (with the water) in the food processor and process until well combined. Add eggs, flour, and cinnamon and process until just combined.
5. Divide the mixture into the prepared pans. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
6. Remove cakes from the pan while still warm and transfer to a cooling rack.

Yield: 16 cakes

Red Wine Chocolate Glaze
16 ounces chocolate (at least 60% cocoa)
½ cup (1 stick) margarine
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 cup red wine (preferably a light fruity wine)

1. Heat chocolate, margarine, and salt in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring until chocolate and margarine are melted, about 5 minutes. Whisk in confectioners’ sugar.
2. Meanwhile, bring wine just to a boil in a small pot.
3. Remove chocolate mixture from heat and whisk in wine; let cool until slightly thickened and a rubber spatula leaves a trail in mixture when stirring, 8–10 minutes. Set cakes on a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle glaze over cakes and let them sit 2 hours at room temperature until the glaze has set.

Oven Dried Pears
1 pear

1. Preheat oven to 225ºF.
2. Thinly slice pear into 16 slices. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and place in the oven for 1½-2 hours until dry and browned. Store in an open container.

Coconut Cream
2 (14-ounce) cans coconut milk
Sugar, to taste (optional)

1. Store coconut milk in the fridge overnight.
2. Scoop out the separated thick cream into the bowl of an electric mixer (discarding the clear liquid).
3. Using the whisk attachment, whip cream on a medium speed for 2 minutes, or until soft peaks form. Transfer cream to a piping bag and store in the fridge.

For Dessert Assembly
1 recipe date cakes
1 recipe red wine chocolate glaze
1 recipe dried pears
1 recipe coconut cream

1. Plate each date cake and drizzle with the hot sauce. (If prepared in advance, drizzle the cakes with glaze as soon as the cakes are cool. Alternatively, re-warm sauce and pour over cakes prior to serving.)
2. Pipe some coconut cream in the hole of the Bundt until it forms a nice puff of cream on top and insert a dried pear as garnish.

 

Yield: 16 desserts

 

For more great recipes, check out this weeks issue of Whisk by Ami