Jump to Recipe Sticky Date Cake.
Luscious, moist and perfectly sticky!
You know when you want something so bad you can almost taste it? Well, that was me last night lying in bed thinking I need to bake NOW. All I could think about was date cake. This certain date cake that I was craving has ridiculous flavor, is super moist and it hits all of the right sweetness buttons.
It’s my boyfriend’s mom’s cake that she makes only on occasion and I was really craving it. And I am a believer in honoring my cravings, not restricting myself from them.
So, I knew I had to figure out how to make her buttery, sugar loaded, straight delicious cake with my healthier spin, and guys I think I nailed it.
I think I nailed her Sticky Date Cake!
This cake was gone in a day. Everyone in my house destroyed it and I am so happy with how the cake turned out! I guess the next approval I need to get is from my boyfriend’s mom herself. That will be the ultimate test!
This cake is suuuuuper tasty and moist on its own, but it would also be crazy good with whipped coconut cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream….i’m just sayin..
Do you need another mouthwatering date recipe in your life?
How about my Roasted Cauliflower, dates and lemon tahini dish? How about my date cashew butter caramel in my homemade Twix! Or or or chocolate peanut butter fat balls with gooey delicious sweet dates as the only sweetness, filled with tons of delicious fats??
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Vegan Sticky Date Cake
Ingredients
Date Cake
- ½ pound dates about 1 ½ cups pitted, and chopped
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ⅓ cup water cold
- ½ cup softened refined coconut oil or vegan butter room temp
- ⅓ cup coconut sugar
- 2 flax eggs 2 tbs. ground flax seeds + 6 tbs. water & let sit 10 minutes or 2 eggs if you eat them!
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 ¼ cup spelt flour or all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¾ tablespoon baking powder
Sticky Sauce
- ½ refined coconut oil or vegan butter
- ½ cup coconut sugar
- ¼ cup canned full fat coconut milk can shaken
- ½ tsp. vanilla
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease your choice of of an 8-inch pan. Round, bundt, or square.
- Place chopped dates in a pan with cold water and bring to a boil, while stirring to break up dates and let simmer on low heat for 1 minute and whisk in baking soda and then remove from heat.
- Cream together your coconut sugar and coconut oil until very creamy and then add your flax eggs. Scraping down as you go, add vanilla, spelt flour & salt and mix until your dough is lumpy like cookie dough.
- Add your warm date mix, scraping the sides as you go and then add the baking powder, which will make a very light and airy batter.
- Pour into your prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes. Your cake tester should come out clean when done.
- To make caramel, combine coconut oil, coconut sugar, coconut milk, vanilla & salt to a saucepan. Bring sauce to a boil and reduce to a simmer until it is a bit more thickened and well blended.
- When your cake is done, poke small holes all over and pour your sauce all over the cake. Let soak for 10 mins and then turn cake upside-down and serve.
Notes
- This makes a nice size cake, BUT you could totally double this, both the cake and caramel and make two layers and put the caramel in-between and it would be seriously outrageous!
- All purpose flour works great here too!
- You could use two eggs instead of flax eggs, if you can tolerate them or are not vegan!
Looks good!
I followed this recipe to a T and yet my skewer came out sticky after nearly 40 minutes in the oven. I finally had to remove it for fear of burning the bottom. That was disappointing 🙁
Hi Shreya, I’m so sorry to hear that? I’ve made this cake many times as well as some other followers and have never had a problem with it not setting. The only thing I could think of was maybe you needed to let your dates sit on the heat a bit longer to help dissolve a bit more of the water before you add the baking soda to that part. And then when in the mixer, make sure it was baking powder you added.
In any case, I will be sure to remake the recipe to retest so it comes out perfect for you next time! Again, so sorry cause this cake is really delicious! I’ll let you know when I re test it!
Vegan sticky date cake recipe is amazing. Everything came out perfect for me. My whole family enjoyed t. They just ate this car at an Indian restaurant and it is very close be a use I over the spelt flour and I really enjoy ed it.it is a keeper.
Hi Irene!
I am so so happy to hear that! Every time I make it, it comes out perfectly and as my most popular recipe I am so glad you enjoyed it!! Hopefully you will try out some other recipes as well!
LOVE this cake! Comes out perfectly every time I have made it! Huge hit in our house and with the kids!
in the coconut cream caramel recipe it the 1/2 a cup of coconut oil?
Hi Yvonne! Yes, it is a 1/2 cup of coconut oil!
Do you add the water with it as well?
Hi Mekayla! The water goes into your pan with your chopped dates and you will bring it to a boil.
Hi Rylee! I'd like to make this for my daughter's 1st birthday cake, but want to leave out the additional sugar. Do you think the cake will work without it?
Hi Emily! I have not tested without the added coconut sugar, so I can’t say for sure. Sugar adds moisture, so it may alter the lightness and texture of the cake. I have made this as a sheet cake (using the coconut sugar) and made a sugar free whipped topping to cut the sugar there as well!
This recipe and the photo makes my mouth water, and I so much want to make it, but I can't fathom out what the quantities mean in 'cups'. Please could you post the ingredients in grams or even ounces? We do like to weigh everything here in the UK, ? Thanks
Doubled the recipe came out fantasticky ?I added pecans on top of the caramel!
I am so so happy to hear this!! What an AMAZING idea adding pecans. I will be adding them to my next date cake!
I made this cake AIP by using cauliflower flour instead of spelt and i used gelatin eggs and didn’t add any sugar as it was sweet enough . I then topped with diced apples. It was really lovely, thanks for the recipe.
Hi Deborah! I am so happy you were able to accommodate this cake to your needs! Love the addition of apples on top! I need to try that myself!
Hi!!!
Thank you for this amazing recipe, I made it the perfect time and came out perfect!
Now I doubled it and I also saw that you are using Tablespoons of baking powder but I wasn’t sure if it was right so I ended up using 2Tbsp instead of 3,5.
The cake is not as sticky as my first one and it leaves an aftertaste of b. soda or salt or something...
So first I want to confirm the baking powder and then I bake it again and hopefully it comes out amazing because really, first time I made it, it was the best cake i have ever baked and i also bake professionally!
Hi Eleni! You should double the baking powder. So next time use 3 1/2 tablespoons! I’ve double this recipe many times, so you should have no problem doubling it! I would suggest splitting it into two separate pans though for an easier and even bake!
Hello! I’m making this recipe for Christmas, do you have any ideas to add a little bit of a gingerbread flare to the cake? Is there room for molasses in the recipe anywhere? Thank you!
Hi Victoria! I wouldn’t add molasses, however I would add a gingerbread spice mix I like to make. To your flour and salt add:
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon,
1/2teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves
A crack of black pepper
Feel free to start out with half the amount of spices, as it is a spicier mix! Let me know how it turns out with the gingerbread flare! Sounds like it will be delicious!!
Hi I’m thinking about making this with almond flour or 1/2 almond and 1/2 oat flour. Also I was thinking of adding cashews to the dates while they boil. Sorta make a cashew date milk out of it, hoping to add moisture. Only because I don’t plan to add the caramel sauce. What do you think? Any suggestions?
I ended up making it with 3/4 cup oat flour (I just ground Trader Joe’s ancient grain oatmeal) and 1/2 cup almond flour. I also boiled the dates with vanilla unsweetened cashew almond milk. Added in a handful of cashews in too after the dates came to a boil and just let it simmer. I think it came out well. Everyone was eating it up lol. It definitely took longer to bake. About 50 minutes and I had to wrap the edges of the pan and cake with foil to prevent the edges from burning. I’ll have to figure out how to modify that - maybe bake it for longer at a lower temperature?
Hey Jessy!
I have only made it with all purpose flour, GF all purpose flour and spelt flour, so I wouldn't be able to speak on half almond and half oat. I am SO glad the oat flour worked out! Oat flour usually works as a 1 to 1 sub most of the time. Perhaps it took longer to bake because of the addition of the cashews, but I wouldn't really think that would make a difference and especially for that amount of time. However, almond flour has a much harder time soaking up liquid, so that would make the cake take longer to bake. When I bake with almond flour, it usually takes about 45-50 minutes to breads and cakes. I would bake at the same temp and just keep an eye on it like you did and cover with foil if you bake with the alternative flours again. I am so happy everyone enjoyed the cake! Happy New Year!
Hi there
I’ve been looking for a vegan (sister in law) gluten free (mum) refined sugar free (my kids) cake for my sons first birthday and I think this is the one yay!
Would it be ok to omit the coconut sugar or does it need it for the texture?
Also could I cook in a ‘dome’ mould tin?
Thanks so much
Hi Rasha! The coconut sugar is definitely needed for the texture. Just so you are aware, spelt flour isn't gluten free unfortunately. You may be able to replace it with a 1-1 gluten free flour, but I have not tried it myself.
I have a gluten free blackberry chocolate cake recipe linked here https://www.abouttosprout.com/blackberry-chocolate-cake/ that could be used with 2 flax eggs or egg replacers. The middles may sink a bit, but it is a fantastic gluten free chocolate cake!
hi! You mentioned that you've made it as a sheet cake. Did you simply double the recipe for this? Did you need to adjust the cooking time as well?
Hi Jordan! You can certainly try doubling it or do it as a thinner cake, or in a half sheet pan should work great! Watch the time as it gets close to the 15-20 minute make if not doubling. Keep the temp the same!
Hi, do you think this would work with rye flour? I'm out of splet flour and only have rye flour on hand
Hi Joyce! I wouldn’t use the flour in place of spelt because it is such a dense flour. Best substitutes are all purpose flour, 1-1 gluten free flour, or oat flour
Oh my gosh this is so delish! Like so ahhhmazing. Wondering if you think half the oil in the cake could be replaced with applesauce. Also, the sweet level was super high..... would it drastically effect the recipe to cut the sugar in half?
Hi Angela! I haven’t tried it with apple sauce but I definitely think it would work! As for the sugar, it will change the texture of the cake if you were to cut it in half. I’d try reducing it by 1/4 cup first.
Could I split this into cupcakes?
I have never done this, but I definitely think you could! I would still bake at the same temperature and bake for 15 minutes, then check them and keep a close eye on them if they need more time and check doneness!
The picture shows a bundt cake but the recipe calls for a 8” pan. I really wanted to make a bundt cake but it doesn’t look like enough batter.
Thanks for catching that! It's an 8" bundt pan you need!
I made this wonderful cake for guests and they all asked for a second slice! It truly turned out better than I could have imagined. Will be making this cake regularly for company! Thank you!
Thank you so much for the kind comment! I am so glad everyone loved it!