Delicious date loaf
This loaf is from my bestselling book, Homemade Happiness – and boy is it popular! Even people who don’t eat dates love it.
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Makes: 1 loaf
Ingredients
1½ cups chopped pitted dates
¾ cup water
Zest and juice of 1 orange
½ cup milk
150g butter, at room temperature, cubed
1½ cups brown sugar
1 free-range egg, at room temperature
1 free-range egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla essence or paste
2 cups plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp ground ginger
Method
Preheat the oven to 160c regular bake. Grease and flour a loaf tin (about 23cm x 10cm) and line the base and sides with baking paper – have the paper sticking up past the sides a good few cm, as the loaf will rise a bit and might need to be supported so it doesn’t overflow.
Add the dates to a small saucepan with the water, orange zest and juice and simmer for 5-10 minutes until most of the liquid has evaporated. (Don’t forget it and let it burn, like I did once!) Stir in the milk, set aside and leave to cool to room temperature (put it in a bowl in the fridge or freezer if you need to speed things up).
Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the egg and the egg yolk, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides once or twice. Beat in the vanilla.
Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, mixed spice and ginger into a mixing bowl and whisk to combine.
Add the flour mixture and cooled date mixture to the creamed mixture and fold gently to combine evenly, until lump-free. Scrape the mixture into the tin and smooth out the top.
Bake for 1 hour 20 minutes, or until a skewer poked into the middle comes out clean (it may take a little longer, depending on your oven). Remove from the oven and cool for 10-15 minutes in the tin – then finish cooling on a wire rack.
This loaf is lovely served sliced with some butter. It keeps well in an airtight container for about 5 days, or freeze individual slices in ziplock bags.
I didn’t have an orange so replaced the zest and juice to lemon and it’s bloody delicious. Thank you.
I have made this so many times now, always a favourite at work, home and taking to friends. I’m now making a loaf to put in the freezer for when our baby is due (in 5 weeks), and people come to visit :) thank you!
lovely x
So delicious! My whole family loved it. Perfect for fall
Making this for the second time. Officially my favourite date loaf, so easy and DELICIOUS. Thank you for this recipe!
Chelsea is gorgeous as is her recpie ,this is the best date loaf in the gallexy. Leave half the sugar out and add lots of boiled dates,so amazing, thanks Chels.
Hi Chelsea-
I am planning to bake this Date Loaf TONIGHT when I get home from work. It’s to be a “surprise joke”, if it turns out OK! – it’s for a group of male musicians (in their 50’s, at least, I would say) who say they like nothing more than to “jam together and enjoy a cup of Dilmah tea and a slice of Date Loaf”.
My question is regarding the amount of soft brown sugar in the recipe – 1½ Cups… as after preparing the Dates last night (Dates, Water, Orange Juice and Orange Rind) I licked (as anyone cook would!) the stirring spoon and the mixture seemed quite sweet in itself, hence my question regarding the amount of soft brown sugar.
Thank you, Val Jenkins
Chelsea is totally gorgeous, as is her recipe, leave out half the sugar and add much more boiled dates as well as whole dates thanks Chelsea
i absolutely love this recipe, but the first time we made this it sunk right down in the middle so we couldn’t serve it like that (although it tasted delicious). we then made another batch in mini loaf tins and they were fine – but should it sink like it did the first time?
Is that regardless of the ingredient? One would assume butter was heavier than icing sugar for example.
Hi Chelsea. Some in the family are not a fan of cinnamon. If it’s omitted will it change the flavour too much?
Wow, I made this on Saturday as I had dates in the pantry. It is sooo yummy, love the addition of spices and orange, makes it smell like Christmas. I don’t want to share with the rest of my house!
Just made this and I hate dates. Absolutely delicious!
I added walnuts to the dates and it came out perfectly. Crumbly the first day and then easy to cut the next day. It is the best consistency and not at all dry like some loaves.
This recipe is perfect. I have used it a few times and even those in my family who dont like dates enjoy a piece… Or two. I added walnuts and coconut the last time and lemon juice/rind instead or orange.
Thanks chelsea
Do I have a small loaf tin or does this recipe pretty much overflow the tin before it’s even in the oven?!
This date loaf is the best, sorry Chelsea but it is now my ‘signature’ date loaf haha – i love it and everyone else does too! Ive got a craving to make it again this weekend for the workmates on Monday!! My mouth is watering just at the though!!
This is so delicious its a staple in our house now, loved by all ages including my 3 year old, I use GF flour as well and it turns out devine! BEST loaf ive ever tasted and I love loaf! Thank you so much for this amazing loaf…
Do you straight swap the flour for gf flour?
Thanks so much for your gorgeous recipes. I’ve lost count with how many I’ve made and now my 11yr old daughter is also using them. This is the most delicious date loaf, even the kids who aren’t fans of dates love it. I’ve just made a batch into muffins for school lunches along with a batch of your wholemeal peanut butter cookies and also your banana and coconut loaf recipe also made into muffins. Your delicious recipes are now my go to as they are all delicious, easy and made with ingredients I usually have on hand. Keep up the great work ?
Hi,
This is one of my favourite recipes of yours Cheslea! Ive been asked for the recipe lots and happily passed it on for others to make and enjoy, like i do. Yum. X
quick question: you have ‘brown sugar’ in the recipe. Would raw sugar or soft brown sugar be best for this? Can’t wait to try it
Thanks
Soft brown :)
I used coconut sugar as I didn’t have any brown, and was beautiful????
Gregg’s mixed spice is not something available in the US, should I leave it out or can you suggest substitutions? What is it similar to? or exactly what spices are blended to make it?
Just made this as thanksgiving gifts. It’s a fabulous recipe
Hi. I made this recipe and it crumbles everytime I try to cut a slice. What would I have done wrong?
Hi Ange, often if you leave it for a day and try and cut it, it’s much easier.
Hi Chelsea,
Would this work just as well with a sweetener as opposed to sugar? And if so is there a particular type you would recommend that would work best?
Thanks!
Hi, do you need the extra egg yolk or call I just use 1egg?
The extra egg yolk makes it richer and improves the texture but you can leave it out if you want to.
Is it possible to replace the butter with oil to make it dairy free? What type would you recommend and how many mls? I’d also replace the milk too. Thanks!
awesome recipe however i swap the orange zest & juice for lemonzest & juice
Can you please help me sub the butter for a dairy free alternative? Preferably olive or coconut oil?
Try a dairy-free spread like Olivani?
Just made this recipe and tried it warm from the oven with a little butter…heaven! Lovely and soft, delicately spiced and delicious. Made two loaves as my loaf tins were quite small. They rose nicely to make two good-sized loaves. Cooked them for 55 minutes. Will take one to work for morning tea and freeze the other one. Really easy and yum! :D
I take that back… it looked great and tasted absolutely delicious from the very first bite. Mmmm very moist, very moreish!
I’ve done a revamp because I only had apricots in the house, no dates. I used 1.5 cups of apricots and then followed the recipe exactly as for the date loaf except I reduced the sugar to 1 cup and the flour to 1.5 cups instead of 2 cups. Result was Amazing! Yummiest loaf ever!
Hi Chelsea I brought this book a week ago and this is the first thing i have made it is so Delicious i cant wait to try all the other recipies.
Hi Chelsea,
Looks like a lovely recipe,
Would this loaf freeze ok?
Yes it would.
Could I use gluten free flour
This is the best recipe I have ever baked. Really delicious. Thank you.
Hi Chelsea could I make it gluten free
Hi Chelsea, would it be ok to use an egg replacer, as well as GF flour, a dairy free ‘butter’ and rice milk? Thanks!
Will it affect the recipe if I halve or even quarter the amount of sugar? I eat a minimal amount of sugar and I think the full amount might be too sweet for me.
Thanks
This sounds delicious….I am gluten free and am tempted to try it with GF flour. Do you have any GF experience or do you ever adapt your recipes for the GF community (which is growing in leaps and bounds!) Thanks!
Hi Chelsea do you have to use Orange?
No you don’t have to.
Hi have followed the recipe, but when I added the milk to dates it had curdled.
Should this happen?
That’s fine.
I have made this….Its delicious!!…..Definitely a keeper
This recipe is amazing. Has lovely flavour with adding the orange. I actually make 2 loaves out of the one recipe. Stays amazing fresh for a long time. Yum yum.
This date loaf is AMAZING!! So easy to make and so delicious. Thanks so much Chelsea
Wow – this is lovely – light and tasty and just delicious with butter of course. Can tell that you really worked on this one to make it the absolute best it could be – love it. I am new fan and have only recently bought all your cookbooks. Not really be into cooking until I started using your recipes. Thanks you so much for inspiring me to enjoy the joy of cooking
Hi Chelsea why would my date loaf sink in the middle? I did open the oven door twice to check if done.
Was devine eating. Thanx
I think it may have been undercooked, and yes, opening the oven can cause this too.
Can gluten free flour be used for this recipe.
Yes it can!
Have made this and is wonderful. Also have used this in Muffin tins. And frosted icing
I would like to make this recipe in muffin tins too. What temperature would you cook them on and for about how long for please. Thanks.
Looks like a lovely recipe, but I’m not a natural in the kitchen, so could you please tell me what a ‘cup’ is equal to in grams? (even pounds and ounces would do)
128g :)
will definitely make this loaf ,sounds so yummy,will comment when i have done so.
Made this the other day, it surely is delicious! Soft and beautiful texture, little bit like gingerbread too. Divine with butter and a hot coffee. Definitely a keeper.
Hi,
Not sure if I just cannot spot it, but would be great if the recipes linked back to which book they are from (when they are). While online is great, in the kitchen who wants ingredients all over their tablet :)
Thanks for a great site.
Great idea, thanks Grant.