Okay, you’ve looked at the photos and thought to yourself, “That’s not a loaf!” You’d be right. Look again, see that cute cake plate? That’s why my date loaf cake is round. I wanted to use my new cake stand.
I got it at the op shop for a whopping $7. It’s so cute I couldn’t resist. I went in to find some placemats or napkins and came out with that cake stand. I refuse to pay full price for new things to use in food photos.
Do you like dates? If you said yes, me too. I like those soft, juicy medjool ones best and I’ve been known to stand at the refrigerator door stuffing dates with cream cheese. A bite for me and a bite for Charlie. He likes dates too. He likes cream cheese better but he mostly likes “last bite.” I think if I ate dirt, that dog would want last bite. It’s a wonder he’s not fat but he runs a lot more than I do.
Back to my cake.
Today is Father’s Day in Australia and I had to be away all day. Next weekend is the Real Food Festival and I’m giving a presentation on blogging on Sunday and on Saturday I’m volunteering. All volunteers had to attend an orientation session and mine was at 11am today.
We were told to be there at 11am sharp. It’s a 40 minute drive for me and I cut it close. At 41 minutes before 11 I ran out the door only to find the car’s gas tank on empty. Yes, you could have heard me grrr from where you are. When John and I go anywhere together he always drives and we’re together most of the time.
“Why is the tank empty???” I wanted to know.
“Calm down, the tank’s empty because we drove the car.”
“You drove, I just sat there,” I mumbled.
“Get some gas and you’ll be late. It’s not like they’re going to tell you they don’t want you as a volunteer. If they do, you’ve got a day to play.” Sometimes in situations like this, his practicality drives me nuts. No drama whatsoever.
Today was a gorgeous spring day, temps in the upper 20s (nearly 80F) and Maleny is in the mountains overlooking the ocean so it was a beautiful drive. I got there 4 minutes late. I might have gone over the speed limit.
When I got home, we did the Father’s Day thing and had a chat about what Rob wanted for dinner. He didn’t care what we had as long as there was homemade ice cream with dessert. He’s easy to please.
He likes mashed potatoes and gravy as they’re easier to eat and he likes chicken so it was roast chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy. For his Father’s Day dessert, I made this date loaf cake and he thought it was very good.
We both thought next time we’d either put chopped walnuts or a walnut streusel on top. (that’s the royal we meaning me.) Do you like cakes with nuts?
- 350g self-raising flour
- ½ tsp salt
- 50g butter, cut into small pieces
- 100g brown sugar
- 100g dates, pitted and chopped
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon molasses
- 225ml milk
- Your oven goes to 350°F / 180°C
- Grease and line the bottom of a 9x5x3 inch loaf tin with baking paper
- Sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl.
- Rub in the butter.
- Stir in the sugar and dates.
- In a separate bowl (the measuring jug for your milk?), gently whisk together the eggs, molasses and milk.
- Add the liquid to the flour mix and beat well with a wooden spoon to make a smooth batter.
- Spoon the batter into your tin, and spread level.
- Bake for an hour in the center of your oven.
- Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the tin, then transfer to a cooling rack and leave till completely cool.
- Dust with icing (confectioners) sugar
