A few weeks ago, when I received a batch of organic dates from a kibbutz in Israel, I found myself wondering what to do with them. These sweet, luscious dates on the vine were perfect for snacking, but how else could I get creative with them? Date nut cake was an obvious choice, but I wanted to do something a little different. With Rosh Hashanah coming up, my mind wandered to honey cake. The thought of sweetening date nut cake with honey seemed like it would be totally delish.
Voila! The Date Honey Nut Cake was born. This tasty loaf cake is a unique take on a traditional Rosh Hashanah honey cake. Dates are actually a symbolic food for Rosh Hashanah, so it’s a great choice for the holiday. In Hebrew, a date is called a “tamar,” which is related to the word “tam” (meaning “to end”) and the word “sheyitamu” (meaning “to be consumed”). Dates are eaten in the hopes that our enemies will be consumed. They also happen to be naturally sweet, which is another good reason to eat them for Rosh Hashanah (as we hope for a sweet new year). And here’s another fun fact– biblical scholars believe that the honey repeatedly mentioned in the Torah likely came from dates (and other fruits), not bees. Yet another good reason to eat dates for Rosh Hashanah!
So, what better way to enjoy dates than in a sweet, delicious honey cake? The dates provide lots of moisture, which makes this a convenient make-ahead dessert—the cake will not dry out if you make it a day or two before the holiday begins. The walnuts add some nice texture and crunch. It’s naturally dairy free, but can be topped with cream cheese frosting for some extra decadence (if you’re not worried about keeping it pareve).
I hope this cake ends up on your holiday table. It will definitely be on mine. Yummy!
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Date Honey Nut Cake
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (6 oz) whole dates
- 1 cup cake flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Pinch of nutmeg
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil (I use canola)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup honey
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- Nonstick cooking spray
You will also need
- 8- or 9-inch loaf pan, 2 mixing bowls
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Place dates into a bowl and cover them with very hot water. Let the dates soak while you prepare the cake batter.
In a large mixing bowl, sift together cake flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together vegetable oil, brown sugar, honey, eggs, and vanilla.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir till a thick batter forms.
Drain water from the dates. Pit the dates, then chop the fruit into small chunks. 
Fold the walnuts and date chunks into the batter.
Generously grease your loaf pan with cooking spray. Pour batter into loaf pan. 
Place loaf pan in preheated oven. Bake cake for about 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and set on a wire rack to cool. 
Oh My, the bread looks great.
This date cake is definitely going on my Rosh Hashanah menu! When we were in Israel we ate a lot of date honey and brought some home with us. Divine! I need to find a source closer to home…
Wishing you a sweet and healthy New Year!
I have a tendency to shy away from regular fruit cake-too many add ins. I am picky when it comes to dried fruit, but the singular addition of dried dates is perfectly acceptable! This may become the new fruit cake for the family-thanks for sharing. It does look tasty.
Tori this is fantastic. I love dates, I love honey and I love cake. So is perfect. Kudos on being creative. Love this one. I found the fact about the honey being thought to come from dates not bees really interesting. You’ve got a real winner here.
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Hi there! Just wanted to let you know that I tried out this recipe and really loved it! Not too sweet, great flavors…thanks for sharing the recipe!
Holy Moses!!!! Yum!
What a wonderful little cake, Tori! I’ll definitely be adding it to my to-bake list
Hope your media tour’s gone well this week 
Have a great weekend!
This cake sounds amazing! It looks so moist, I will definitely be making this!
This cake looks perfectly moist and delicious, Tori!! Great idea!!
It’s good to see more Rosh Hoshanah recipes out there–I might need to make this next week!
This cake looks amazing and incredibly moist. Great recipe. : )
This cake looks great! I’ll definitely be making it for a friend soon =)
That looks so mouth-watering good..ENVY!
Love ur profile photo, Tori!
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. We were in Israel about a year ago at this time and brought back some date ‘honey’ with us. Our guide had told us the same thing about Biblical references to honey as you mentioned in your post. Anyway, I have been looking for a recipe for making date nut cake ever since I returned from my Israel trip, but couldn’t find anything that sounded good…until now! Perfect!
Can you not use pitted dates???
You definitely can use pitted dates, Ben. It’s an easy cake, and using pitted dates will make it even easier!
This looks incredible, what a great recipe!! You and your dishes never cease to amaze me Tori!
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OMG, Tori! The moistness of this cake just jumps right out of the picture. I can’t wait to make it for Rosh Hashana. I will be making the Vanilla Pudding Kugel, too I want to make really sure that this New Year is nice and sweet! Thanks for the great recipes! My best to you and your family.
What an amazing cake! It looks delicious!
I made this honey cake and one from Epicurious (with a chocolate glaze and sea salt flakes). They were both delicious, but this one was the best and disappeared first.
I made this cake for dessert last night and it was the most popular dessert on the table. Rave reviews from everyone! Fortunately, I doubled the recipe, so we have another for Shabbat dessert.
Confession:I made two of these in 48 hours. First one was for Rosh Hashanah dinner and there were ZERO left overs so the following day I made another-So delicious, so easy!
Yesterday I needed a dairy free cake – a friend was shocked that I had not heard of your site as a foody – iPad in bed I went on it – wow got up and out of bed into the kitchen – if I have dates and nuts here goes …. Honey and date loaf. – well I did – easy to make and delicious to eat ..I am hooked
Thrilled that you enjoyed the cake Ruth, welcome to the Shiksa blog! Happy you’re here.
hi,your site is adorable,i love it,sidebar about nuts that might interest you,lottsa things we do on rosh hashana are smbolic like the simanim on rosh hashana eve,its brought down in the code of jewish law a interesting custom (amongst orthodox and especially chasidim)not to eat walnuts(many dont eat any nuts)because its numerical value in the hebrew alphabet equals that of sin.hebrew egoz equals chet
I have tried a few of your recipes, & they are all amazing, except for one, it was a blueberry cake, but it was from a book that was on your site, not your recipe, so unless it’s your recipe I will never use it! I’m still looking for a recipe for a poundcake my grandmother used to make, I’m hoping one day you will make a cake like hers! Keep up all the great cooking & baking!!! Thanks
Thanks for the vote of confidence Stacy! Do you have any details on the poundcake? Was it a simple buttery poundcake, or was it flavored?
can i use regular whole wheat flour?
Hi,,,this recipe looks fabulous,,,,any idea if you can replace the cake flour with something Paleo friendly?
Hi
Love your recipes. Can I assume that this cake will be fine if it’s made in advance, cooled, and frozen?
Hi Elaine, I don’t generally freeze cakes, but I assume this cake will freeze fine. I can’t make any promises because I haven’t tried it myself. If you try it please let us know how it works for you!
One more question: do you think i can use date syrup
instead of bee honey?
Can I use pecan instead of wallnuts?
Hi Joana– absolutely! Pecans would be great.
Printing this out!! Decided to host my first ever Rosh Hashannah dinner and this looks amazing.
Enjoy Olga!
This was fantastic! My picky eater, who doesn’t eat many things, ate several slices in one sitting. Thanks for the recipe!
That looks so scrumptious!!!