“Coffee” Date Cake with Coconut Irish Cream

This recipe calls for coffee, but I added it anyway because I am sure it would be much, much better without or a substitute! I was thinking vanilla extract would be fabulous!

“Fresh, soft dates are a must. Use the variety you like best; Medjool, Halaway, and honey dates all work. To make sticky dates easier to chop, freeze them overnight, then slice them open and remove the pits. Toss the dates in your food processor and pulse until chopped. For this recipe, the date pieces should be relatively small.”

2 cups White Spelt Flour
1 ½ tsp Baking Powder
½ tsp Sea Salt
1 ½ cups firmly packed chopped pitted Dates
1 ½ tsp Baking Soda
5 TBS Earth Balance
½ cup firmly packed Dark Brown Sugar
2 TBS ground Flaxseed
5 tsp coffee extract—So, maybe 3-4 tsp vanilla extract?

Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease the sides and bottom of a 9-inch pan and dust with flour. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together into a medium bowl and set aside.
In a medium saucepan, bring 2 cups water to a boil, keeping covered to prevent evaporation. Add the dates and simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat, add the baking soda, stir to combine; the mixture will be fizzy and bubble up a bit. Stir well to incorporate. Let the date mixture sit for 20 minutes, uncovered (the baking soda breaks down the fiber of the dates).
In a large bowl using an electric mixer, cream Earth Balance and brown sugar until well incorporated and fluffy, scraping the sides of the bowl often. In a small bowl, with a small whisk, whip the flaxseeds with 1/3 cup water until frothy. The mixture should resemble egg whites in texture. Add the whipped flaxseeds to the brown sugar mixture and mix on medium speed until well blended. Add the extract to the dates and stir to combine.
Add the date mixture, alternating with the flour mixture, to the brown sugar mixture, starting with the dates, mixing well but gently between each addition until all ingredients are incorporated. Do not overmix.
Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the surface of the cake springs back when gently pressed. Let cool for 15 minutes, then cut into squares. Drizzle each square with some of the Coconut Irish Cream Sauce, dollop with Whipped Cashew Cream, and top with 2 date halves. Serve warm.
Makes 6-8 servings
Prep time: 1 hour
From: Tal Ronnen’s book, “The Conscious Cook”