Date Cake

Chopped dates are so cute. But so painful for the chopping hand.

Got your attention, didn't I?! However, the date in question is none other than the dried fruit, so sweet one might mistake it for candy. I was inspired not by lutefisk tonight (thanks to Tiffany for the suggestion), but by the sultry sugar and spice of the Middle Eastern Passover traditions (though Passover is still a few weeks away. Not at Safeway, where a large front of store display offers goodies from Streit's and Manishewitz "on sale."). Now that I've made a recipe that calls for "finely chopped dates" I have to ask the recipe's creator--are you NUTS? Chopping those dates--and I took great pains just to get them coarsely chopped (forget "finely")--is probably going to account for my early onset arthritis.

Tonight's recipe hails from the April 2008 edition of Gourmet. I made a mistake in the production of this cake, adding the egg yolks to the nut mixture instead of the egg whites, as specified in the recipe. I don't know how this happened, yet miraculously the cake turned out fine. Mine was a bit on the moist side, due in part to my use of too much date-soaked water. Oh well--what's done is done. Now it's time to eat cake!

Walnut-Date Torte, mostly word-for-word but slightly adapted from Gourmet
1/4 c boiling hot water
1 1/2 c pitted dates, finely chopped
1 1/2 c walnuts, toasted and cooled
3/4 c sugar
2/3 c matzoh meal (or Passover cake flour)
zest of 1 orange
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp salt
4 large eggs, separated, at room temp 30 minutes

**Note! I see one thing that I did wrong. I completely ignored the direction for 1/4 c hot water. Instead, I added enough--more than 1/4 cup--to cover the dates. Proof that I really should read every word in a recipe.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in the middle. Spray or grease a 9" round cake pan. Pour hot water over dates and let stand 15 minutes to soften. In a food processor, grind up toasted walnuts and add 1/4 cup sugar until the mixture turns powdery. Add zest, cardamom and salt and pulse until blended. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Then add the remaining sugar and continue beating until they form glossy stiff peaks. Add the egg yolks to dates and whisk until mixed. Fold the egg-date mixture into the egg whites. Finally, add the nut mixture to the egg batter and fold in until well mixed. Pour into cake pan and bake for 30-40 minutes, until golden brown and cake springs from pan sides.

A reddish-brown tint from the date pieces peeks out at the eater.

The Gourmet recipe says to make a confectioner's sugar-potato starch mix to top the cake, but I just used the sugar. It is a very sweet cake, so no sugar topping is needed; it's really only there for presentation. Do you like it?