Kindness Cake

From the November 2002 issue of Canadian Living Magazine: In January 2001, in honour of the United Nations International Decade for the Culture of Peace, Monica Mueller of Burnaby BC started a progam that provides cakes for conferences and cultural events that focus on developing kindness. The cakes hark back to many cultures with their traditional ingredients (almonds, from the Jewish mandelbrot; dates, eaten to break the fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan; cranberries, from the cuisine of Canada's native peoples). She hopes that on World Kindness Day (Nov. 13) people will make these cakes and--in the spirit of kindness--give one away. Well, Recipezaar members -- are we up for that?! :-)

• Ready In: 1 hr 30 mins
• Yields: 24 slices

Ingredients

• 1  cup butter, softened
• 1 1⁄2 cups white sugar
• 3  large eggs
• 1  tablespoon  freshly grated  orange rind
• 3  cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1⁄2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1⁄2 cups buttermilk
• 1 1⁄4 cups  chopped pitted dates
• 1  cup cranberries (fresh or frozen)
• 1  cup  chopped  almonds

• Orange Icing

• 2  tablespoons butter, softened
• 2  cups icing sugar (sift through a sieve after measuring to remove lumps)
• 2  tablespoons  orange juice

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F; line 2 8x4 loaf pans with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a mixing bowl, beat butter with sugar until mixture is fluffy.
3. Next, beat in eggs, 1 at a time, then stir in orange rind.
4. In a separate mixing bowl, combine flour, baking soda and powder, and salt.
5. Stir dry mixture into butter mixture alternately with buttermilk (dry, buttermilk, dry, buttermilk, finally dry).
6. Into this batter, stir in dates, cranberries and almonds just until combined.
7. Scrape batter into the two prepared loaf pans and bake in the centre of preheated oven until a tester comes out clean, about 75 minutes.
8. Turn out onto cooling racks and cool completely.
9. You could now wrap cakes in heavyduty foil and freeze for up to one month, if you wish.
10. To make icing, beat butter with just 1/4 cup of the icing sugar, then beat in orange juice.
11. Beat in remaining sugar until icing is smooth.
12. Spread icing over tops of both cakes.