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Nutrition: per slice

  • kcal376
  • fat16g
  • saturates9g
  • carbs57g
  • sugars30g
  • fibre2g
  • protein4g
  • salt0.53g
    low
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Method

  • step 1

    Heat oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3. Butter and line a 20cm round cake tin (about 8cm deep) with baking parchment. Put dates in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Heat the butter in a small pan until melted, and stir in the sugar. Allow to cool slightly.

  • step 2

    Beat in the eggs, ginger and lemon zest. Drain the dates and chop them finely. Scrape them into the pan too, and mix well. Stir in the flour, then apple. Spoon into the cake tin, put the tin on a baking sheet (this stops the base browning too much) then bake for about 1¼ hrs, until well risen. A skewer stuck into the cake should come out with a few moist crumbs sticking to it. Leave it to cool in the tin.

  • step 3

    Break the white chocolate into a non-metallic bowl. Heat in the microwave, on medium setting, in one minute bursts until melted (or in a bowl over a pan of simmering water). Remove the cake from the tin and peel off the paper. Trickle the chocolate over the cake, scatter with the crystallised lemon peel and coffee crystals and leave to set before serving. If well wrapped, the cake keeps for at least a week – it just gets better and better. Or, wrap the cooled cake in several layers of cling film before decorating, and freeze for up to two months.

Recipe from Good Food magazine, January 2005

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Comments, questions and tips (52)

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Overall rating

A star rating of 4.7 out of 5.42 ratings

stonefruit

question

Do the dates need to be 200 g before or after the removal of the stones?

goodfoodteam avatar
goodfoodteam

Hi, thanks for your question. This is 200g after the stones are removed. We hope this helps. Best wishes, BBC Good Food Team.

Srneate

question

My family love this cake but my son is now on a gluten free diet. How can I adapt this recipe to be gluten free? Which flours/amounts are most successful?

goodfoodteam avatar
goodfoodteam

Thanks for your question. Simply replace the self-raising flour for gluten-free self-raising flour. Before scraping the mixture into the tin, check it drops off the spoon easily. If not, stir in a splash or two of milk to loosen the mixture. Gluten-free flours need a bit more liquid than standard…

rparnell

question

I've made this a number of times but every time it sinks in the middle. I know that this has been asked before but how can this be avoided? It goes into the oven within a minute of mixing, the oven door isn't opened during cooking and the only rising agent is that in the self raising flour. …

goodfoodteam avatar
goodfoodteam

We're sorry to hear your cakes have been sinking. Another main reason for this is if the cake isn't sufficiently cooked - perhaps the oven is running at a slightly lower temperature than the setting indicates or you've used a slightly smaller tin so that the cake is deeper. We'd suggest giving the…

Biddlybong

A star rating of 5 out of 5.

Very good cake. Did not turn out as a pudding, but I did cook it for an extra 15 mins. 200g sugar is ample. I chopped dates before soaking and added extra powdered ginger. Did not bother with topping. Would defs recommend

izziestopford

You can definitely use less sugar in this recipe - I used about 200g and it was plenty sweet enough (also didn't bother with topping or apples!!)

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