Sticky Date Cake with Coffee Buttercream
Flipping through my Ma’s recipe collection brings back memories of baking my grandmother’s sticky date cake.
- prepare
- cook
- Easy
It was a favourite of mine to bake from such a young age in fact both my and my sister’s little fingerprints are clearly still visible on the pages.
This cake is a timeless treat and was a favourite for family picnics and gatherings.
My mother’s mum was Grannymum, and as the mother of five children no doubt her oven was regularly humming. She passed away when I was very young, but her recipes, like this one, keep her memory alive in our kitchen.
The cake is so moist, with dates tenderised by baking soda, and topped with a rich coffee buttercream. It could even serve as a base for a sticky toffee pudding, a dessert I’m very partial to.
Gretchen Lowe explains how to make her special cake.
Ingredients
- 1 cup dates, pitted and chopped
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¾ cup boiling water
- 110g butter, softened
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 tbsp golden syrup
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup plain flour
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- pinch of salt
- Coffee Buttercream
- 120g butter, softened
- 1 ½ cups icing sugar
- 2 tsp instant coffee powder
Instructions
- Soak the chopped dates with the baking soda and boiling water and allow to cool.
- Preheat the oven to 170°C and line a 20 x 25cm cake tin with baking paper.
- Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add golden syrup and beat a little longer. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for a minute between each addition.
- Fold through the date mixture. It will look separated but don’t worry, the flour will sort it out. Fold through the flour, baking powder and salt.
- Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake for 30–40 minutes until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- To make the Coffee Buttercream, beat all the ingredients together for at least 5 minutes, until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides as you go. Spread on top of the cooled cake
