This Date Cake is a moist, soft, delightful cake featuring sweet dates, crunchy walnuts, fragrant coffee, healthy almond milk and raw sugar. It also has whole wheat flour that makes it wholesome and a bit healthier. Even a beginner in baking can make this eggless, vegan Date and Walnut Cake easily.
Table of Contents
About Date Cake
Date cake is a favorite with us. No wonder, I make this on days when we crave for sweets or desserts that are healthy.
This Date and Walnut Cake recipe is almost a decade old that I had posted many years back. I have been making this Date Cake for many years now.
It simply never fails and you get the perfect date loaf every time. My recipe always impresses my family and friends. When I serve this delish cake to them, they keep on asking for more.
The earlier recipe was made with a mix of whole wheat flour and all-purpose flour. Later I switched to making the cake entirely with whole wheat flour changing some of the other ingredients proportions.
And oh boy! I was so surprised to see the cake having a soft and moist crumb in spite of the whole wheat flour. So I have updated the recipe post to the date cake made entirely with whole wheat flour.
This date and walnut cake is healthy as together with dates and walnuts it is made with whole wheat flour and almond milk.
The cake recipe is apt to make for special days or festivals like Christmas or Easter, especially when you want to enjoy eating desserts that are not heavy on butter or cream frostings, refined flour and too much of fats like butter or oil.
Even a novice in baking can make this cake and get full marks. Try this cake and you will be simply bowled over by its texture, flavor and taste.
Ingredients You Need
- Flour: The entire recipe is made with whole wheat flour and works well with both the Indian wheat flour (atta) used for making roti and the milled whole wheat flour available outside India. You could easily swap the whole wheat flour with all-purpose flour, pastry flour or whole wheat pastry flour.
- Dates: Well of course since the cake has dates in it, it is loaded with the flavor and aroma of dates. Dates also makes the cake soft.
- Coffee: I also add instant coffee that pairs beautifully with the dates and add its own charm and flavor to the cake. Though you can chose to opt out of coffee.
- Walnuts: I love to add some walnuts in this recipe. But if you are out of walnuts, skip them. But they do add a lovely crunch to the soft cake.
- Chocolate Chips: You could also choose to add some chocolate chips or cacao nibs. Sometimes I do add these and I have mentioned the proportions in the recipe card below.
- Leavening Ingredients: Both baking powder and baking soda are required and cannot be substituted for each other. Since this is an eggless cake, I would suggest that you use both baking powder and baking soda that are fresh and in their shelf-life.
- Liquids: I make this cake with almond milk, but feel free to use your preferred milk to make the recipe. Earlier I have also made this recipe with homemade soy milk.
If you love baking with nuts and dry fruits, do check my Fruit Cake Recipe and Wine Cake.
How to make Date Cake
Prep and Make Date Walnut Mixture
1. Rinse and finely chop 100 grams or about 5 large or 8 to 9 medium-sized or 12 small dates and 4 to 5 walnuts (25 grams).
Measure and you will need ½ cup finely chopped dates (tightly packed) and ¼ cup finely chopped walnuts.
Grease a 7.5 to 8 inches round pan with oil (neutral flavored) or line it with a parchment paper. You can also use a loaf pan to make date loaf.
2. Heat 1 cup almond milk (or choice of milk) in a pan or steel bowl. Do not boil. The milk should only be hot.
3. Switch off heat and place the pan or bowl on the kitchen countertop. Add instant coffee.
4. Add the finely chopped dates and walnuts.
5. Mix very well to make an even mixture.
6. Add ½ cup raw sugar. You can also add ½ cup white sugar or add it according to the sweetness you prefer in the cake.
7. Mix thoroughly until the sugar granules dissolves. Set aside to cool for about 15 minutes.
Make Cake Batter
8. Place a wired mesh sieve over the bowl and ddd the following dry ingredients to it.
- 1.5 cups whole wheat flour – 180 grams
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 pinch salt
Sift the dry ingredients directly over the bowl ensuring the sifted ingredients fall into the bowl.
9. Pour all of the the cooled dates and milk mixture to the sifted dry ingredients in the bowl.
10. Add ¼ cup of sunflower oil (or any neutral tasting oil), ¼ cup water and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or ½ teaspoon vanilla essence.
11. Mix with a wired whisk or you can also choose to fold the batter.
Mix to an even batter but take care not to overdo the mixing or folding. Over-mixing can cause gluten strands to develop in the batter and will result in a doughy dense texture.
12. Pour in the greased or parchment lined pan. Tap the pan with the batter in it on the countertop a few times so that the batter spreads on its own.
Bake Date Cake
13. Bake at 190 degrees C/392 degrees F for 35 to 40 minutes. Preheat oven at 190 degrees C/392 degrees F for 15 minutes. It took me 40 minutes to bake in my oven.
Note that temperatures vary from oven to oven. It can take less or more time for the cake to bake in your oven.
14. Check the baked date cake with bamboo skewer. The skewer should come out clean with no sticky batter on it.
15. Cool cake pan on wired rack.
16. Slice and serve when cooled. You can also refrigerate the date cake for about a week. Store the cake in an air-tight container in the fridge.
More Egg-free Cakes To Try!
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Date Cake | Date and Walnut Cake
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
- ½ cup finely chopped dates (tightly-packed) – 100 grams or 5 arwa dates (or 5 large dates) or 12 small or 8 to 9 medium-sized dates.
- ¼ cup finely chopped walnuts – 25 grams
- 2 teaspoons instant coffee
- 1 cup almond milk or choice of milk
- ½ cup raw sugar – 110 grams, can use ½ cup of regular sugar instead
- 1 tablespoon cacao nibs or small chocolate chips, optional
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or ½ teaspoon vanilla essence
- ¼ cup sunflower oil
- ¼ cup water
Dry Ingredients
- 1.5 cups whole wheat flour – 180 grams
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
Making cake batter
- Finely chop the dates and walnuts and set aside. If you prefer, you can rinse dates, walnuts before chopping them.
- Line a 7.5 to 8 inches cake pan with parchment or grease it with a neutral flavored oil like sunflower oil.
- Take almond milk in a small pan and heat it gently on low. Do not boil the milk but only heat it.
- When the milk gets hot, place the pan on the kitchen countertop.
- Add the instant coffee, finely chopped dates and walnuts, sugar. Stir to get an even mixture and ensure that the coffee granules and sugar have mixed evenly.
- Set aside to cool for 15 minutes.
- Now you can preheat the oven to 200 degrees C/392 F for 15 minutes.
- Sift whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a mixing bowl.
- Add dates and milk mixture to the sifted dry ingredients.
- If using cacao nibs or chocolate chips add them now.
- Next add sunflower oil, water and vanilla extract.
- Mix with a wired whisk or you can also choose to fold the batter. Mix or fold to an even batter. Remember not to overdo the mixing or folding.
- Pour batter in the greased or parchment lined cake pan.
- With the help of a rubber spatula remove the batter from the sides of the bowl and add it to the cake pan.
- Tap the pan on the countertop a few times so that the batter spreads on its own.
Baking date cake
- Place cake pan in the preheated oven and bake at 190 degrees C/392 F for 35 to 40 minutes.Keep in mind that each oven has a different baking temperature. So to bake the cake in your oven, it can take less or more time. It took me 40 minutes to bake this cake in my oven.
- Check cake with a bamboo skewer by inserting it in the center of the cake as well as around the edges. The bamboo skewer should come out clean.
- Place the cake pan on a wired rack or tray to cool.
- When cooled, slice and the Date and Walnut cake. Serve as a evening snack or as a dessert.
- The remaining cake can be kept in an air-tight box and refrigerated. Keeps well for about a week.
Notes
- You can make this date cake easily with all-purpose flour, pastry flour or whole wheat pastry flour. You can also use an equal mix of whole wheat flour and all-purpose flour.
- Addition of coffee and cacao nibs are optional.
- For a more earthy flavor in the cake, choose to add coconut sugar, palm sugar or jaggery.
- Use neutral flavored oil – one that is odorless and flavorless. Please do not use any oil which has an aroma or a particular flavor.
- Instead of oil, you can use softened unsalted butter. If using salted butter omit adding salt.
- Note that the approximate nutrition info is for the entire cake made from this recipe.
Nutrition Info (Approximate Values)
This Date Cake recipe post from the blog archives first published in March 2013 has been republished and updated on Jun 2022.
I made this yday with regular dairy milk and without any maida..i. e. 2 cups of wholewheat flour. The cake tastes good..but the center is not crumbly. .it is somewhat soft and chewy but cooked well. What could be the reason?
i think bhakti, either the cake batter was very thick due to the quality of whole wheat flour. what i have seen while using both these flours is, that the maida tends to absorb less water and whole wheat flour tends to absorb lot of water. so if you one want the consistency which is meant for any recipe, then the quantity of water or liquids have to reduced or added more while using maida or whole wheat flour, respectively. another reason could be that the batter was too much mixed. this can also make the cake chewy.
Can you suggest substitute for milk?
bhakti, you can try almond milk https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/how-to-make-almond-milk/ or cashew milk. there will be no other substitute.
Hi
I tried but it went miserably wrong the crust was cooked but inside it was flat and moist.i preheated oven at 200 C for 20 mins and baked for 45 mins. I have tried it 3 times all the time it becomes flat.
most of the times, when the cake is not cooked from inside, it means that the batter has got over mixed. when we over do the mixing, gluten forms in the batter and this interferes in the rising of the cake. next time when you make, just mix so that there are nu lumps. don’t over beat or mix the batter.
Hey,i tried this recipe and it turned out to be awesome. But my sister cannot consume sugar in any form for some months(no dates also) and she loves coffee cakes. Could u plz suggest me a recipe for her?
Thanks a ton ! 😀
you can try with a sugar substitutes like stevia. i have had stevia before in teas and drinks, but never added to baked goods. you can google for a sugar free cake and i am sure you will get a recipe. since you say no sweet… can she not have fruits too. let me know. i have a recipe of a cake made with apple sauce. the recipe has sugar. but you use sweet apples and then no need to add sugar. but won’t be very sweet.
Ma’am can I add 2 cups of whole wheat instead of maida? N shud I increase water quality while using whole wheat?
reshma, you can add whole wheat but you will have to increase the water quantity.
Hi dassana
The concept of the date walnut coffee mixture is great so i tried it. The taste was good, but the texture wasnt like a cake at all. It was all uncooked and moist from inside 🙁
Abaker
i am not sure why the cake was not uncooked and moist from outside. you could have mentioned some more details as to the baking temperature, oven, pan size etc. i would have been able to help out.
Hi,
I tried this cake yesterday, but upper crust got very very hard and lower part was still moist. Let me know what went wrong? will try making again. pre heated oven at 200 degrees.
Wishes,
Shubha
shubha, how long you preheated the oven and which pan you used to bake. to avoid over browning or hardening of the crust, always keep a butter paper or aluminium foil on top of the pan.
I tried to bake the cake at 180°C for 30 mins but it was uncooked from inside. Then I removed it from rack n baked it for another 20 mins at 200°C it came out well. I think the cake needs to be baked at 200 °C only. The sugar n coffee flavour was little less but overall loved the cake. I used powdered white sugar n also added 1 tbspn of cocoa powder. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
thanks shifali. oven temperatures vary from oven to oven. hence the different in time. so what works in one oven will not necessarily work in another one. this i tell from experience. the cake can be baked at both 180 as well as 200 degrees celsius. since i baked at 180 degrees celsius, i have mentioned the same in the recipe. the coffee flavor is not dominant in this cake, but yes there is a subtle flavor.
Thanks a lot!! Worked out really well.
welcome sanhita
When should cacoa nibs be added? Do we need to coat them with flour
after the mixing has been done, fold in the cacoa nibs. no need to coat them with flour.
Hi ..I have tried this recipe second time…and it is fantastic. I like it. Thank you very much…This is the second recipe I have tried it from your blog. First was mawa cake..it was also good..
welcome dhanashree. glad to know this. do try some more recipes.
Hi there….I love to bake but I don’t have Any oven …can u pls suggest some cake or cupcake recipes which I can make in microwave …it would be a great help …thanks
Neetika
i will have to post the recipe after i try and test it. most of my baking recipes are impromptu and instant, so i will have to test them in the microwave and then add the recipe.
I tried it this weekend and the cake was burnt in 20 minutes.. I think the oven size pan size does seem to matter.. felt like it would have worked fine if I had baked at 180 degrees instead of 200degrees 🙁
oh no 🙁 the oven size and pan size matters. i think even less than 20 mins would have worked. its always better to keep an eye while baking, as oven temperatures, sizes etc differ from home to home.
Hi Dassana,
I’m a novice baker, if you will. And I tried this cake over the weekend. I got a beautiful brown crust but the inside of the cake just didn’t cook. It was all wet and chewy. I baked at 200 Celsius for an hour. Does the pan size affect the baking process? I used a 18 * 18 cm square greased pan. The cake wasn’t edible at all… 🙁
Any pointers on what I can prevent for future baking experiments are welcome…
Thanks.
i think the cake was not baked well for some other reason and not the pan size. 18 by 18 cm pan should work well for this recipe. something with the heating in the oven. did you preheat the oven. also it is possible that the batter was not done well. it is difficult to pinpoint what exactly has gone wrong.
Yeah, I had the oven preheated for 15 mins at 200 deg C. I hand mixed the batter. Unsure if thats the reason.
okay. the preheating is fine. so it must be the batter mixing. either it was done too much or was uneven mixing. let me see, if i can add a step by step for this recipe, then you can see the consistency of the batter and this will help. hand mixing should not affect. i have seen many people mixing cake batter with hand. it is possible that the mixing was too much.
hello, Can you pls tell me which oil you use?
Can we use white butter instead of Oil?
use any oil which is neutral in taste and flavor, like sunflower oil or rice bran oil. you can also use white butter.