Date Cakes

I’ve long had a collection of cookery books from the St Michael Cookery Library (St Michael was a brand owned by British retailer Marks and Spencer). Some I’ve had for decades, others I’ve found more recently. But one of my go-to recipe books has always been this one, ‘Cakes, Pastries and Bread’, first published in 1977. I remember reading the book and looking at the recipes, and a small selection became favourites that I’ve use a lot.

Recently, I rediscovered the book and have been trying out, for the first time, some of the recipes that I used to only look at. These yummy, squidgy cakes came about as I changed the original recipe to suit the moment. I loved them, especially as they taste of sticky toffee pudding, one of my favourite desserts. However, I still have to go back and follow the original recipe more closely!

Date Cakes

100g butter
1 egg
100g caster sugar
200g stoned dates, chopped
100g self raising flour
Pinch of salt

Heat oven to 180^oC and grease an 18cm (7in) square cake tin.

Melt the butter and the dates over a gentle heat until the dates are starting to soften

Beat the sugar and egg together until light and fluffy. Add the butter and dates and mix well.

Sieve in the flour and salt and mix well.

Turn the mixture into the prepared tin and spread evenly.

Put in the over for 30 – 40 minutes, until golden brown and well risen.

Take out of the oven and cool for 10 minutes before cutting into squares. Leave in the tin to go cold and remove.

These are best eaten fresh on the day, but do last a couple of days in a sealed container.