Naked Date and Cashew Cake

Cashews because I was all out of walnuts. Dates because they’re awesome. They may not be typical cakey bedfellows but they taste fine to me.

This works best as a tray bake rather than a full-blown cake. With my brownie tray I can cut 24 slices that are the right balance between a modest tea snack but also make Mr Kippling look a bit stingy.

This was/is a Waitrose recipe but although I’ve followed it to the word in the past on this occasion I dropped most of the sugar, syrup, butter, and eliminated the icing altogether (thus the nakedness). I personally don’t miss it.

Ingredients

• 200g Dates, chopped.
• 50g Cashew Nuts, chopped.
• 150ml Hot Water.
• 60g Butter, softened.
• 50g Light Brown Sugar.
• 1 tbsp Golden Syrup
• 3 Medium Eggs
• 200g Plain Flour
• 1½ tsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon

Method

• Pre-heat oven to 180°c. Line or grease your tin or tray of choice.
• Chop the dates, place in a bowl and cover with the hot water to soften things up.
• In a big bowl beat the butter and sugar together, then add the spoonful o’ syrup.
• In another bowl sieve the flour, baking powder, and cinnamon together.
• Stir in a third of the dry ingredients followed by an egg to the butter and sugar mix. Repeat in turn until everything is combined.
• Whack in the dates. No need to drain them, keep it sloppy! Finally, mix in the cashew nuts.
• Plop into your pan/tray, level, and place in oven. Let the magic happen for just shy of 30 minutes. Remove. Cool. Cut. Eat.