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.
Delicious….didn’t have a fresh orange for zest and juice at hand , so I used a whole orange from the freezer. Put orange in food processor to cut up. Worked well. Also used coconut sugar as didn’t have any brown sugar. Will definitely be making this again, yum.
I made this the other day and it is yummo., lovely and moist. I didn’t have a fresh orange at hand for zest and juice, so I used a whole orange from the freezer, which are prepared for baking. Chopped the orange up in food processor.
Definitely a hit. Thanks
Can I use self rising flour instead of the plain flour and leave out the baking powder? and the baking soda?
WOW … absolutely delicious.
I went searching for a new date loaf recipe and came across yours Chelsea with really good feedback – so thought I’d give it a crack (and put the dates in the fridge out of their misery). Have to say it was a little more time consuming to prep than I’d hoped (should have read the 30mins prep time) … but I am not disappointed – and my partner is already wanting to know when the next one is scheduled for some oven time. A great COVID lockdown treat, and will definitely be featuring on our morning tea list when visitors are allowed again. Really moist, great texture, nicely spiced, and I love the hint of orange. Thanks heaps :)
Chelsea, why would my milk have curdled when I mixed with the date and orange?
Can I sub flour for buckwheat flour? Flour shortage at the moment!!
You can try, it will taste very strongly of buckwheat though, a blend of GF flour and buckwheat would be better but try it!