Date Honey Nut Cake – a moist, tender cake bursting with flavor. This super easy quick bread cake is lovely served with tea or coffee. It’s also a nice change from standard honey cake – perfect for Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot, or any holiday!
When I received a batch of organic dates from a kibbutz in Israel, I found myself wondering what to do with them. These sweet, luscious dates on the vine were perfect for snacking, but how else could I get creative with them?
Date nut cake was an obvious choice, but I wanted to do something a little different. With Rosh Hashanah coming up, my mind wandered to honey cake. The thought of sweetening date nut cake with honey seemed like just the ticket.
Voila! The Date Honey Nut Cake was born. This tasty loaf cake is a unique take on a traditional Rosh Hashanah honey cake.
Dates are actually a symbolic food for Rosh Hashanah, so it’s a great choice for the holiday. In Hebrew, a date is called a “tamar,” which is related to the word “tam” (meaning “to end”) and the word “sheyitamu” (meaning “to be consumed”).
Dates are eaten in the hopes that our enemies will be consumed. They also happen to be naturally sweet, which is another good reason to eat them for Rosh Hashanah (as we hope for a sweet new year).
And here’s another fun fact– biblical scholars believe that the honey repeatedly mentioned in the Torah likely came from dates (and other fruits), not bees. Yet another good reason to eat dates for Rosh Hashanah!
So, what better way to enjoy dates than in a sweet, delicious honey cake? The dates provide lots of moisture, which makes this a convenient make-ahead dessert—the cake will not dry out if you make it a day or two before the holiday begins.
The walnuts add some nice texture and crunch. It’s naturally dairy free, but can be topped with cream cheese frosting for extra decadence (if you’re not worried about keeping it parve).
I hope this cake ends up on your holiday table. It will definitely be on mine.
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Date Honey Nut Cake
Ingredients
- 6 ounces whole dates (3/4 cup)
- 1 cup cake flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Pinch nutmeg
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil (I use avocado oil, canola oil can also be used)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup honey
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- Nonstick cooking spray
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Place dates into a bowl and cover them with very hot water. Let the dates soak while you prepare the cake batter.
- In a large mixing bowl, sift together cake flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together vegetable oil, brown sugar, honey, eggs, and vanilla.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir till a thick batter forms.
- Drain water from the dates. Pit the dates, then chop the fruit into small chunks.
- Fold the walnuts and date chunks into the batter.
- Generously grease your loaf pan with cooking spray. Pour batter into loaf pan.
- Place loaf pan in preheated oven. Bake cake for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and set on a wire rack to cool.
NOTES
Nutrition
tried this recipe?
Let us know in the comments!
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Hi, I am a chef from a large retirement residence, I would like to know if I can use Splenda in this recipe. There are a lot of diabetic residents who would love this recipe but couldn’t have it because of the sugar content. Thanks so much!
Hi Karen, yes I believe there is a Splenda baking blend that you can use cup-for-cup to sweeten baked recipes. There are also similar stevia blends that are more natural. Most of them will have information on the packaging that will let you know how much to substitute.
I made this loaf/cake this morning and it turned out great! We have a ton of dates from my hubby’s last trip to Israel and this is a great way to use some of them. I will bake a few more loafs/cakes to give to our family and friends 🙂
The only thing I did different from the recipe was grate my nutmeg so I don’t think I used enough. The next one I will grate more in than the first.
Thanks for sharing.
this cake is amazing. i have made it a few times for my family and they all love it!!! its easy and fun to make and i love that it tastes so good and is healthy!!! thnx
You’re welcome Antonia!
I made this cake and it’s absolutely delicious. Easy to make, stays moist for days and the taste is sublime.
I just whipped this together and it’s in the oven now! I have never EVER experienced an aroma like this… I’m salivating! And I don’t even like dates! I cannot wait to try this – I’m already convinced it is an excellent recipe.
Enjoy Leher!
I can now confirm they are delicious 🙂 Thank you for sharing!
This cake looks delicious! I’ll be doubling the recipe to make 2 loaves this Rosh Hashanah. I bought dates WITHOUT pits – do I still have to soak them in hot water? Thanks much in advance for a quick reply 🙂
Francine, yes I do recommend soaking. Enjoy!
The cake looks amazing. Can I substitute the loaf pan to the normal 8 by 8 square cake pan and do I have to double the recipes if I use the 8 by 8 square cake pan? Thanxs
You would need to double the recipe to fill an 8×8 pan, otherwise the cake will turn out too thin. Enjoy!
Hey Tori… wonderful recipe. I used basic kitchen sugar, plain flour aka maida and almonds instead of the counterparts you have used and the result is brilliant. Thank you for this diary free recipe.. that’s what made it the winner…
Glad you liked it Tanu! 🙂
Loved loved loved this recipe! It was simple yet delicious! Planning to bake this again soon. 😀
So happy to hear that Wari! 🙂
I love this recipe. I have used it a lot and just today too. I made this for my friend for her birthday and she loved it. This is a great reicpe!
Happy to hear that Maria!
Gosh! This turned out amazing! Loved it. I used all purpose flour. The cake is moist n overly sweet. It’s just perfect! Thanks for the recipe. My mom loves dates but this is the first time that I actually loved them.
Also it needed just 44 mins in fan oven. I adjusted the temp to 150 degree Celsius. 🙂
I’m glad you loved the cake Ganesh!
Hi Rosie– it is supposed to be a very moist cake, and may not be to everybody’s taste. I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy it more!
I made this once and the outside seemed a little overdone. I made it again cooking a few minutes less and the cake fell apart. I think I will try to make it with all purpose flour instead of cake flour. If anyone has an suggestions please let me know. The flavors are wonderful so I want to get this right.
Hi Phyllis- that’s strange, so many readers have had a great result with this cake. I’m not sure what might be going wrong for you. You could try baking it at 300 degrees for 70-80 minutes till a toothpick comes out clean. Perhaps the cake flour you bought is creating too delicate a crumb, so as you said you might want to try all purpose. Hope your next try is successful!
just made two more date, honey and walnut cakes,now
going to make Bienenstich Bars, they look lovely, cant wait to try them. Make everything for patients in a clinic!!
Tori- I used the King Arthur flour and it was a hit! Moist and delicious! Thank you so much.
Great Ilana! 🙂 Thanks for reporting back.
I have made this and LOVED it! Having some gluten free guests for Tu Beshvat and wondering if/how I could make this gluten free?
Hi Ilana, you could try subbing an all-purpose gluten free flour substitute for the flour, like King Arthur. I’ve had pretty a good experience with subbing in this kind of recipe (easy cakes and quick breads), but I haven’t tried it in this particular recipe. If you try it will you let us know how it turns out?
Was given some lovely dates from Saudi Arabia,
found your recipe for date walnut and honey cake.
Made it straight away, thought it was the best cake ever.
Made two more the next day. Thank you so much.
Made this with grape seed oil & almonds (because that’s what I had on hand.) it turned out amazingly! Crust was burnt, maybe to hot or too long?
Ovens vary in temperature slightly, yours may run a bit warmer than mine. Try taking it out a little earlier next time, and make sure you bake it in the center of the oven (where you’ll get the most even heat throughout). Bake only until the tester comes out clean, no longer. Glad you liked it!
Lovely recipe..Stumbled upon it today when I was looking for a cake recipe with honey…Tried it…thanks to you, it turned out great!! Perfectly moist and flavourful!!
Great Anita! Happy to hear that 🙂
I made one for my neighbors next door and two loaves for my in-laws for Rosh HaShana. It was amazing. I made it again to have something after the fast. Again, truly amazing. My mother-in-law said she doesn’t like honey cake and hasn’t touched the one she bought from the store, but this one she loves. So thank you again! Your recipes are the best.
Just FYI: I used all purpose flour (since I didn’t have cake flour) and I used coconut oil, since I don’t have vegetable oil.
Thanks LC! And thank you for noting the modifications you made, it can be really helpful for other readers.