Baking Day, the first of many to come

To set the tone:

This is a photo of the Date Cake from the Book, page 39 (the cake recipe is on page 38.)  So, this is what we were shooting for.

Now I have to admit; when we were going through the book the first time, I wasn't thrilled with this recipe.  Sort of like, it would never cross my mind to make something like this.  But as I was getting ready to bake, I found myself getting anxious, kind of like being a little kid at Christmas.  Not sure if it was for the cake, the blog, or fear of falling flat on my face.

I realized right after my first two cups of coffee, that I needed to accomplish a few things before baking.  First was clean the oven, something had spilled over and I didn't need a burnt smoke flavor to this cake!  Second, was to clean up the kitchen and do the dishes. Another admission, I absolutely abhor cooking or baking in a dirty kitchen.  

Once the dishes were done, kitchen clean, I realized that the oven still had a couple of hours on the self clean cycle.  So to kill time, and my pent up energy, I went to the gym and got in a decent workout, and seriously, only thought about cake about a zillion times.

By the time I got home, the oven was done, and I was able to start the baking process.

This is the chopped dates, walnuts and brown sugar.  Tip with chopping dates, keep washing the knife off with hot tap water, this removes the sugars from the knife and makes for easier chopping!

So with David Bowie playing in the background...and no, Panic in Detroit didn't Start us off; it was Changes from 1972 (Andy Warhol was the b-side and no that wasn't one of my favorites....) I chopped the dates, then the walnuts, packed and dumped the brown sugar, melted and poured in the butter, then the eggs and milk.  I then made up the self rising flour.  It was 1 1/2 cup flour total (3/4 C AP, and 3/4 Cup Whole Wheat Pastry flour) so I added 2 tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt.  Stir to combine.  Prior to this, I had buttered my 8 inch pan, and cut a circle of parchment paper for the bottom.

Prepped pan, and batter ready to go in.  This was a dense batter, and needed some coaxing out of the bowl.  Once it was all in, I shook and knocked on the pan to distribute the batter.

Now the oven had been pre-heated to 350F, with the rack in the center of the oven.  The recipe called for baking for 50 minutes.  Out of habit, I set a timer for 30 minutes just to see where it was (as every oven is different!)  At 30 minutes, the toothpick was still wet.  I set the time for another 10 minutes. 

10 minutes later, the toothpick came out clean.  I tried two more spots, all clean so the cake came out of the oven at 40 minutes.  So let this be a lesson for anyone playing along.

Yep, the top cracked some.  This could be cleared up with a water bath on the rack below, but as this cake is to be frosted, the cracks won't matter.

I ran a knife around the sides, with no sticking.  Waited 10 minutes (as this pan doesn't hold heat at all) and put a cooling rack on top and flipped the cake.  Another cooling rack was employed on the bottom and again flipped, now the cake was resting on a cooling rack right side up.  It came out perfectly.

The cake came out, not to David Bowie nor any of his alter egos...but rather Credence Clearwater Revival, and a classic B-Side Born on the Bayou (I think Cajun food is in order this week) which was the flip side to Proud Mary in 1969!

While the cake cooled, and I chilled to CCR I started in on the frosting, Pretty easy, Cream cheese, Powdered Sugar and butter.  It was a bit stiff at first, but persistent mixing got it to spreadable.  Now the recipe makes more icing than I like.  I have never been a frosting or icing fan, so I didn't use it all.  In the end, I used about 2/3 of it.  Topped the cake off with Walnut halves.  So shoot back to the first picture from the book, then come back to see what I made:

Basic technique here, dump a bunch of icing on with the spatula, then use the offset spatula to spread it and remove any excess.  The Lazy Susan below aids in frosting a cake, as it spins!

Temptation did not get the best of me.  We had dinner, then made some tea and cut a slice to try....

Not sure if you can zoom in, but the nuts, and dates are clearly visible, and the structure is tight.  The cake is dense, though to be fair, in looking at the book, their slice appears dense as well.

Taste wise, it's on the dry side.  That could be due to inconsistent cooking times, using the middle rack, or it could be that this is dense, slightly dry cake.  My wife loved it 5 stars she said, as she had a second slice.  To be fair, she likes dry cakes.  I too had a second small slice, as the flavor is subtle.  The Dates and Walnuts really shine in this cake.  It isn't too sweet, and the dates lend a moisture to the cake in places.  My Father and Aunt tried this cake as well, and all agreed, though a bit dry, a wonderful cake, pleasing to the palate, and one to keep to make again.  When I have other taste testers, I will update this if anything else comes up.

Now the cake is 8 inches and about 1 1/2 inches high.  It cuts 8 nice healthy slices, 16 if you are watching your waistline like me :) So how will it keep?  Not sure, if it lasts that long, I will update that info, when next we draw a cake for baking.  But the way this one tastes, I'm not betting on it being around long enough to test longevity and freshness.

All in all, an easy cake to back, and decorate.  Tasteful, but possibly dry just by nature.  Now I made this to the recipe.  My normal inclination is to play with the ingredients, like cutting sugar, or substituting fats, this recipe after making it verbatim the first time (another good tip) and I wouldn't change a thing.  Well except to do the first watch at 30, and second at 35 (at least on my oven!)

Anyone playing along, now or the future, Please feel free to comment any of your own findings, I'd love to hear from you!

Parting shot:

Longevity Update:  So the cake only lasted until today.  The last of the Taste Testers have checked in.  The consensus; The texture is like a scone, and the dates and frosting lend to a moistness the cake lacks.  It was very subtle in taste, but all liked it enough to want to bake it again.

The next cake will be drawn next week.