Moist Date Cake Recipe with Cardamom (Easy, Nut-Free!)
This incredibly moist date cake recipe will win your hearts with its deep caramel notes, natural sweetness from plump dates (there’s only ½ cup of added sugar), and the lovely scent of cardamom that ties it all together. It’s a recipe that has traveled through generations and holds a special place in our family.
The recipe comes from my husband’s mom, whom we call Yassi. She’s a brilliant baker and the only person who can say the phrase, “oh how lovely” five times in a conversation and not sound the least bit affected. Yassi always loves to serve her date cake during Christmas time, but this is a cake you can enjoy year-round—with a cup of coffee, a glass of milk (my son loves that combo), or your afternoon tea.
Yassi’s date cake recipe was passed down to her by her Danish mother, and it’s one she’s been making since she was a young girl. This recipe is older than her marriage; even older than my husband, her son. I am sure you will love it as much as we do.
“Oh, you’re on holiday, you must enjoy it,” Yassi says, as she pours some silky crème anglaise over a slice of this cake during my visits to Karachi. Moments like these make this recipe all the more special.
What Makes This Date Cake Recipe Special?
This sticky date cake stands out with its gooey, pudding-like texture and rich caramel flavor, making it more of a dessert than a traditional loaf-style date cake. The warm, aromatic hint of cardamom sets it apart from the usual plain or spiced versions.
Pro Tip
You’ll need a 10-inch pan for this recipe—preferably a springform for easy release, but a regular cake pan works, too. Just be sure to line it well with parchment for smooth removal.
Ingredients
Dates: The heart and soul of this cake. I’d recommend you use Medjool dates, they’re naturally plump, and fudgy. Their deep flavor brings out the cake’s signature caramel tones. If you’re buying dates with seeds/pits, you’ll need about 250g, but if you’re buying pitted dates, use 230g. (The recipe calls for approximately 14-15 dates.)
Baking Soda: This softens the dates and transforms them into a thick, caramel-like date paste. It also enhances the cake’s tenderness by reacting with the natural acidity in the dates. You’ll notice some frothing when you add it—this is a sign it’s working!
Butter: Rich, creamy butter adds moisture and depth to the cake. When whipped with sugar, it forms the light base that holds the batter together perfectly.
Cardamom: This brings a warm, aromatic flavor to the cake, which complements the natural sweetness of the dates. If you have freshly ground cardamom, the most vibrant flavor is worth the extra effort.
Dark Brown Sugar: I used dark brown sugar for that toffee-like flavor, but you can also use light brown sugar if that’s all you’ve got in your pantry. With its molasses-like and earthy notes, brown sugar enhances the caramel flavor of the dates, unlike white sugar, which lacks these rich tones. If you use light brown sugar, the molasses flavor will be less pronounced, but it isn’t a deal breaker if you use it.
Eggs: Helps bind the batter. Ensure you bring them to room temperature because they mix more smoothly with other ingredients and help the cake rise more evenly.
Flour: You want to use all-purpose flour.
Baking Powder: The cake won’t rise without it!
Pro Tip
The size of the pan matters—too small, and it might overflow; too big, and the cake could end up flat or dry. Stick to the pan size in the recipe for the best results!
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step One: Prepare the dates. If your dates have seeds (mine did!), remove them first. To do this, slice each date lengthwise with a paring knife, gently pull it open and remove the pit. Once all the dates are pitted, finely chop them into small pieces to ensure a smooth mixture later. Set the chopped dates aside while you prepare the next step.
Step Two: Make the Date Mixture. In a large saucepan, add the chopped dates and pour in 250ml (1 cup) of water. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat.
Once it reaches a boil, add the baking soda directly to the saucepan—it will bubble up and froth quite a bit. Don’t worry, that’s normal!
Stir well to combine, then reduce the heat to low and let the mixture simmer for 5-7 minutes until it thickens to form a date puree. Allow it to cool for at least 10 minutes before adding it to the batter. Adding a hot date paste could cook the eggs, so letting it come to room temperature is essential.
Pro Tip
Use a large saucepan for the date mixture—trust me, when you add the baking soda, and it starts to froth, you don’t want it bubbling over. A little extra space goes a long way!
Step Three: Prepare the Batter. Preheat your oven to 175°C (350°F). Line the base of a 10-inch cake pan with parchment paper and butter the sides to prevent sticking. Whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, and cardamom. In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
Gradually add the eggs, whipping after each addition until the mixture is smooth. Slowly fold the flour mixture into the batter until combined. Add the date mixture and gently mix until fully incorporated.
Step Four: Bake the Cake. Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface with an offset spatula.
Bake the cake for 30-35 minutes or until the center comes out clean when tested with a toothpick. Avoid overbaking, as the cake should remain moist and slightly gooey. Let the cake cool in the pan for 30 minutes before removing it. Allowing the cake to cool ensures it sets properly and doesn’t crumble when removed.
Step Five: Serve. Cut the cake into slices and serve warm with my crème anglaise, vanilla ice cream, thick clotted cream / whipped cream, or a drizzle of homemade caramel sauce over the top of the cake.
Storage
- Make Ahead: The date mixture can be prepared a day in advance and refrigerated.
- Refrigeration: Once the cake has cooled, store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Warm slices in the microwave before serving.
- Freezing: Wrap individual slices in plastic wrap and freeze for up to 1 month. Thaw at room temperature or in the microwave before enjoying.
This moist date cake is a showstopper for gatherings, tea parties, birthdays, or a cozy dessert. With its deep caramel flavors and moist texture, it’s a recipe you’ll return to repeatedly. I hope you will make it. Enjoy!
Related Recipes
- Medjool Date Caramels
- Risalamande (Danish Rice Pudding) with Cardamom and Cherry Sauce
- Medjool Date and Orange Salad
Date Cake
Equipment
- 10-in springform pan (If you use a pan with a smaller diameter, the cake may remain raw from the middle and cooked from the sides, so please do use a 10 in pan.)
- parchment paper
Ingredients
- 250 g plump dates with seed 14-15 dates, weight of pitted dates is 230g
- 250 ml boiling water 1 cup
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 112 g butter, unsalted, brought to room temperature (½ cup or 1 stick)
- 90 g dark brown sugar ½ cup
- 2 eggs
- 150 g flour 1¼ cup
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
Instructions
- If your dates have seeds, remove them by slicing each date lengthwise with a paring knife and gently pulling out the pit. Finely chop the pitted dates into small pieces for a smooth mixture later. Set aside.
- In a large saucepan, combine the chopped dates and hot water. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Once boiling, add the baking soda—it will bubble and froth, which is normal! Stir well using a spatula, reduce the heat to low, and let the mixture simmer for 5–7 minutes until it breaks down and thickens into a date paste. Allow it to cool for at least 10 minutes before using. (Tip: Cooling prevents the hot mixture from cooking the eggs in the batter.)
- Preheat your oven to 175°C (350°F). Line the base of a 10-inch cake pan with parchment paper and butter the sides to prevent sticking. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and cardamom. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed butter and sugar mixture, mixing on low speed with an electric mixer until just combined. Then, add the date puree and continue mixing until the batter is smooth and fully incorporated.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface with an offset spatula. Bake for 30–35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Avoid overbaking to keep the cake moist and gooey. Let the cake cool in the pan for 30 minutes.
- Flip the cake out of the pan, peel off the parchment paper, and transfer it to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Slice the cake and serve warm with my crème anglaise, vanilla ice cream, clotted cream, whipped cream, or a drizzle of caramel sauce.
Delicious – it sounds almost like a sticky toffee pudding…only not as sticky! I’ve never been one for dates but they are lovely in cakes.
The cake looks very moist indeed. I would like to try this.Thanks for sharing, Shayma.
sounds totally delicious, like your mother in law. i may nick your recipe shayma and make it to camera. will let you know, and of course will credit you if i do. x
What a lovely post Shayma joon. The cake looks amazing and the pictures are just stunning! Great recipe!x
What a wonderful post. I can almost see her.
My British mother in law taught me to make a date and walnut cake, which I’m very fond of. Probably mostly because of her.
Brilliant, both the lovely story about Yassi and the recipe you’ve posted. Have some dates at the back of my storecupboard, can’t wait to try this – one for the weekend methinks 😉
Like a nouvelle …beautifully written. Thanks.
I think the date cake is the perfect alternative to the traditional toffee sticky pudding and it has always bee my favourite.
I love the story and the dessert looks scrumptious. Well done again!
Lovely images came welling up behind my eyes while i read that piece. Your food writing is really anchored in place and time which can only enhance the enjoyment.
It’s a fine recipe too and has been bookmarked for future cooking. Delicious is rapidly turning into my new recipe file.
“You can have that cake, and eat it, too” – wonderful!
fabulous shayma!!! really really easy to make, took about 15 mins to conjure up the mixture and voila…into the hot oven…came out moist, rich, heady, absolutely heavenly…sigh..oh for some clotted cream!!!
Have a date and act as a nut is what one knows, but a date cake, wow!!! I love dates but having them in a cake is my dream. How come the gooey stuff does not collapse?
Love your stories which build up an appetite for more.
Oh, this cake looks really delicious! 🙂 Even though I’m not a big fan of dried dates I’d love to taste it. And what a nice pictures you made. I like the story.
Just couldn’t stop reading 🙂 Your writing is, well, lovely! :-)) (and I definitely bookmark this cake for when I’ll get back! 😉
@Su-Lin Oh, perhaps you should try the ripe-dried dates, they are almost like a fresh fruit. There are so many varieties, perhaps I can give you some of the nicer varieties if you come to visit. Thanks for your lovely words.
@Zurin You are most welcome, thanks for your kind words.
@Anissa Thanks very much. Yes, please do, it would be an honour; after all, you *are* the Julia Child of the Levant.
@Azita Joon, Thanks, as always. x s
@Maninas Thank you. Food is always more delicious when we can related it to someone or some place, isn’t it?
@Scandilicious Thanks so much, Chef. x s
@MsMarmiteLover Thank you, always a pleasure to hear from you, dear Priestess of the Underground Restaurant.
@Mathilde Thank you. I have to admit, I have a soft spot for all puddings, especially the sticky toffee pud’. Bring on the cream!
@Eman Then come and visit soon! We’ll have lots of cake, promise. Thanks so much. x s
@TheGrubWorm You’re very kind. I can’t seem to talk about food without relating it to a personal story. I’m sure you know that feeling. Btw, my friend has also told me about Delicious, I have to start using it.
@Sabrina Sabs, thanks for the support and the phonecalls today. Loved hearing about how you made it at home. Next time come over, I’ll have the clotted cream ready. x s
@Gourmand Gosh, Gourmand, you’ve got me there! I just followed the recipe as I was told. I am not a pro at baking and am just very lucky it did not collapse. Serendipity, perhaps? The baking soda definitely keeps it elevated. Thanks, as always, for your wonderful comments, I love them.
@Sarka Dear, perhaps you’ve been having some ‘dehydrated dates’ which are tough and dry. The ones which you should buy should be ripe and plump, like a fruit. When you bite into them, they should melt, (and not be tough). I used dates from Iran, called Piarom, they were soft to the touch. If you live in London, you could go to the Edgware Rd, there are gorgeous Tunisian dates to be found there, ripe and plump. Thanks for your lovely comment.
@Sigrid My dear, thanks so much for visiting. I hope you’re having a lovely time. Sending you best wishes across the vast oceans. x s
You are lucky to have a MIL like this, both for the affection she clearly has for you and also for the CAKE! Yum. xo
wow this looks GREAT! i have just bought some dates, this recipe sound sperfect for me to make :O) thank you for sharing!
Shayma, what a sly story and a delicious-looking cake. I will have to try a version, adapted for our gluten-free house…almond flour, maybe?
I’m cooking this tonight for my mum as the start of our Mother’s Day weekend. I can’t wait to try it.
@Mothership Lots of goodies to be had in her home. Hope you can come and visit for some tea and cake. x s
@Betty Why thank you so much, Betty. I hope the dates are ripe and plump.
@Gluttonforlife Thanks, so much, dear L. This girl has a really amazing blog about gluten-free baking, have a look. http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2007/01/cooking-baking-gluten-free-tips-for.html She combines different gluten-free ‘flours’ to get an optimal one. Maybe smthg for your pantry? You may have to play around with it a bit since this is already a very moist cake. Thanks for the question, I have now added a link to this post, for a gluten-free version. x s
@Cat That’s lovely-it shall be made with lots of love. Don’t forget the clotted or triple cream 🙂
Thank you Shayma for the tip! I’m sure I’ve only eaten those dehydrated dates. I have to try those you recommended.
Love….that bowl with the cream!!!!! And the cake looks good…even though I’m a bit middle of the road with dates!!
Dear Shaima,
If there is one thing I love on this earth is dates; I ADORE them (in spite of extra kilos) When I go to Morocco on vacation, I just cant stop eating them…so your cake is an absolute must for me. Thank you !!!
@Kitchenbutterfly Thank you. Oh, I so do hope you could change your mind about dates! We bought a set of those tiny bowls many years ago, from a Japanese ceramics store in NYC. I kept it as part of my trousseau; am putting it to good use 🙂
@Cristina I adore dates, too, have grown up eating them, the real, lovely, plump ones. I hope you enjoy making the cake as much as I did.
Lovely cake and as always great story.
Shayma, Id love to make this but cant do grams
@Tasteofbeirut Thanks, as always.
@Sabiha Aunty, thank you. I will try to do a conversion this weekend for you (to cups), but I find when I have done that in the past (with cakes and other baked goods) some further tweaking has been required. I bought a Salter scale from Bed, Bath & Beyond and it’s one of my fave things in the kitchen 🙂 x s
delicious writing and storytelling. I will make this recipe very soon.
Il seems so sweet and nice this pudding! Like a night in Damasco , for example.
Great!
@Rachel @Radicchio Thank you very much.
OMG I have just made this for some friends and it was eaten within minutes. Delicious. I’m not sure that they would have realised that it was made from dates if I hadn’t told them. Sticky toffee taste. Loved it, thank you 🙂
@Sarah Lovely of you to visit and share your experience with me. I love hearing about how the recipes turn out in other people’s kitchens. Thank you.
Shayma,
I did thank you few times for your great recipes, but I guess this would be more official 🙂
I baked this wonderful date cake and it turned out fantastic! Most importantly, it is incredibly easy to prepare and it tastes superb.
thank you very much again.
I love that you reply in person! I did make it for Mother’s Day and it went down very well. It was completely delicious. And naturally, we had it with lots of cream! 🙂
I am not into sweet stuff but the story and pictures have made me change my mind 🙂 beautiful and well done!
Hi! yummy looking.. just what i’m looking for!does the recipe call for white or brown sugar though?
i love the MIL relationship around the cake.. you’re so blessed!
thanks
@Vanessa Thank you so much. It calls for white granulated sugar. Happy baking!
Hi Shayma
Love love love your blog and recipes. Could you please state the amount of dates in cups? I’m working with a packet of seedless brick of dates. Also would the recipe work if I half it?
@Rutab Thank you so much for the kind words. I apologise, but I have absolutely no idea how many cups of dates this would amount to, that’s very tricky to say. Next time I make it I can make a note of it and send you the information. I would not half the amount of dates though.
I made this cake today and I have to say thank you; it was much, much better than I had even begun to imagine – dark, deep, moist, just the way it looks in the picture and yes, almost a pudding. Brilliant. No cream; served it with vanilla icecream. It was a huge hit, everyone wants the recipe and I am now going to slowly and steadily proceed to try most of your recipes, provided I have the ingredients, because this one was a fabulous experience!
I found your blog a few months back and had bookmarked this recipe. Made it today. Turned out wonderful thou cooking the dates with soda did give them a scary look. Served it with breakfast cream.I must try other recipes as well from your blog now. Thanks for the recipe.
hello
I am Afghanistan.But I have spent 14 years in Pakistan. I found your blog while searching for Afghani recipes and I couldn’t stop myself from reading each and every recipe.your childhood memories took me back to my childhood.
I will surely try the recipes that I don’t know. I think now I will be looking in your blog more often.
Can’t wait to make this….specially in the cold of winter, dates warm you right up!!what do you think about adding cinnamon also?I’m a cinnamon addict!!
@Bahareh My humble suggestion would be to not add cinnamon- dates have their own caramel-y flavour, and I feel the cinnamon would not add much to the cake. x s
I came across this fantastic blog last week. Since I had dates in the house and everything else, I made your date cake. I love it! And, it’s even better the day after. Being a 62y old retired guy loving to eat and cook, with a watchful doctor breathing down my neck, I didn’t use the heavy cream for serving.
@ChrisB You are very kind- thank you very much. The heavy cream is not mandatory at all. With a nice cup of tea or coffee, this will go down just as well – cream or no cream.
Hi,
I do not have a springform pan. Do you think I can bake this in a regular loaf pan?
Thanks,
Annie.
@Annie I am sorry for the late response, things have been busy with the baby 🙂 I would not use a loaf pan because this cake is quite dense. Instead, I would use a round 8-in pan.
Hello, Thanks for the lovely cake tips. I’m new to baking and I would like to understand why do we need to add baking soda in the date mixture? What happens if we don’t do it?
@Meiyi Hi Meiyi, from what I understand, baking soda makes the cake tender – I personally would not omit it. Hope that helps?
OMG this was absolutely divine! I made it yesterday and my family is begging me to make it again today haha.
Yes very true…. everyone in my family loves this cake…
Hi there! I love this recipe. I made it this evening for and although it tasted great, it was much more like a cake than a pudding. I’m not an avid baker, I had to use some conversions to cups and also doubled the recipe for two cakes. This could be a reason for the density…any other ideas? I’d love to try it again and hope for a different outcome. Thanks!
Dear Nazia, Perhaps the moisture level was low. It may also have to do with doubling up of the recipe or converting it into cups. Did you use moist, gooey dates? That also may be a factor…Hope this helps. All best, Shayma
the baking soda smell and taste was too overpowering . can anything be done abt it? Otherwise a lovely cake
Hi, of course this post is really good and I hav learned lot of things from it on the topic of blogging.
thanks.
made it…tasted grt
Hi,
Thank you for the recipe. 1st time I made it and it came out delicious! 2nd time i think i did something wrong, my dates turned into a dark greeny colour after i boiled it! :/
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Hi
I made this today while trying to get rid of those dates in the fridge. Much to the looks of both my daughter and wife, the cake turned out perfect. Just had a bite while its cooling and was yummy. Will try to make a variation with walnuts next time around.
Thanks so much..
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This is without doubt one of the best cakes in my repertoire! It is so easy to make and everyone loves it. I prefer it plain with some unsweetened yoghurt but it seems to be most popular when I make it with a mascarpone frosting. Thank you so much for this recipe!