This incredibly moist vintage Date Nut Cake recipe is just like grandma used to make, made with unbleached flour, butter, spices, dates, and nuts.
My mom recently gave me a copy of this Date Nut Cake recipe that belonged to my great grandma Stauber. It's part of the recipe collection that she gave me last Christmas, but got mixed in with her recipes at home. We decided to make this together while she was in town visiting for Christmas. It was fun to be able to work in the kitchen with my mom and try something new.
It turned out really moist and tasty. I love the simplicity of this cake recipe. Perfect with a morning cup of coffee or an afternoon cup of tea.
The amount of baking soda seemed a bit much when preparing, but the end result is perfect.
My husband and I agreed that the one thing that would make this incredible would be to soak the nuts in bourbon for a few days (or up to a week....some drunk nuts) and then add the drained nuts to the batter. Of course, what's not good soaked in bourbon??!
We absolutely love the taste, texture, and easy preparation of this dessert. I can see how it's been loved and passed down for several generations.
Date Nut Cake (recipe from the early 1900's)
If you love dates, then you need to check out these amazing Oatmeal Date Bars. They are another family favorite and so good!!
The original recipe:
If you love this cake, try this recipe for date nut bread.
Date Nut Cake- Project Vintage Recipes
Ingredients
- 1 lb dates chopped fine and pits removed
- 2 tablespoon baking soda
- 2 cups boiling water
- ½ cup unsalted butter 1 stick, softened
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ cup white sugar
- 2 eggs well-beaten
- 1 ½ cups spelt flour
- 1 ½ cups unbleached bread flour King Arthur's brand
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup pecans chopped (walnuts would be great too)
Instructions
- Place chopped dates in a large bowl and sprinkle with baking soda.
- Pour boiling water over the dates and let sit until cool.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and both sugars and then add the beaten eggs.
- Mix until creamy.
- Sift the flours with the teaspoon of cinnamon and then slowly add to the butter mixture until all is incorporated.
- Add vanilla, dates (with water) and chopped nuts and stir until blended.
- Pour into two 9 inch greased and floured cake pans and bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Cool on wire racks.
- Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.
- This can also be served topped with fresh whipped cream.
Nutrition
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Karyn
I love the idea of trying out vintage recipes. They are always so much fun. Thanks for linking up this week.
Anonymous
so do you add the water w/the dates to the batter or drain off the water before you add the dates? please clarify - thanks!
Amee Livingston
yes, you add the dates with the water to the batter. Thank you for catching that error for me! Sorry!
Adri
Perhaps I'm just not seeing it but, is there a printable version on site?
Amee Livingston
Adri, this was an older post before I updated my site so it didn't have my recipe plug-in active for printing. I just corrected it to the printable version, so you can print it now. I hope that you enjoy it!
Mike
I first remember my grandmother making this in 1972. I liked it so much that I asked her to make it for me on my birthday each year. She served it with whip cream on top. I believe she first found the recipe on the back of a box of dates, but am not sure.
Amee Livingston
We have some of the best memories around our favorite foods. Love this Mike!
Joanna Glenn
I don’t know what spelt flour is?? Anyone?
Amee Livingston
Hi Joanna! It's a type of wheat grain, but you can easily substitute white wheat flour or unbleached all purpose flour in the recipe.
Pat Frankovich
Is this a moist cake? You say to add regular flour in place of spelt but you are also adding flour in addition. S poo would I increase unbleached flour?
Amee Livingston
Hi Pat! For this recipe, you would use 1 1/2 cups of spelt flour and 1 1/2 cups of unbleached bread flour. You can also use regular flour instead of the spelt if you don't have it along with the 1 1/2 cups of bread flour. I hope that makes sense. It's a total of 3 cups for all flour.
Robert
How many baking pans do you need for one recipe
Amee Livingston
Two 9" cake pans
Michelle Hencye
Can this be made in a 9x13 pan instead of round cake pans. Thanks in advance
Amee Livingston
Hi Michelle! I’m sure that will work fine but I haven’t tested the recipe for the cooking time for a loaf pan or if more than one pan would be needed. Let me know how it turns out if you test it out.
Amee Livingston
Hi Robert! Two 9" cake pans is what I used.
Barbara E McCoy
Can this cake be baked in a tube pan or pan?
Amee Livingston
I haven't tried it in a tube pan, I used two 9" cake pans with great results. The time would need to be adjusted for different size pans.
Suad Shamma
Hi! Can I use date paste instead? If so, do I still need to add water for moisture? Thanks!
Amee Livingston
Hi Suad! I have never worked with date paste, so I'm not sure how well it would work instead of dates in the recipe. If you try it, please let me know how it turns out.
Penny Myers
Thank you Amee,
My heart was broken - just looked for my Grandma’s date nut cake recipe, and could not find it. This sounds like my grandmas’s recipe. Thank you sooo much. Going to make it now!
Penny Myers
Amee Livingston
Hi Penny! I hope that you enjoy it!!
Janis
This recipe can also be made gluten free!! Just substitute pillsbury gluten free allourpise flour and add a tbs of milk. Fabulous!
Amee Livingston
Thank you for the feedback Janis! Good to know it works great with the gluten-free AP flour! I can't wait to try it!!
Kim
Amee This is my grandma’s recipe although she had a date frosting for the cake I haven’t been able to perfect it I’ve been trying now fir years does anyone have the recipe for the frosting that goes with this cake it was made like a Carmel frosting with dates and nuts in it we would also cut the cake while hot and let it cool but not all the way and roll it into ball then roll in powder sugar she called them datenut chews delicious I still make them for my grandchildren today
Amee Livingston
Hi Kim! I’ve actually never had this cake frosted, but that sounds delicious! If I find a frosting recipe that’s similar to what you described I’ll let you know! We just do a dusting of powdered sugar.