Beer and Date Coffee Cake

Submitted by mianbao

"I thought this cake was very good, but then, I'm a date-lover. The cake is spicy, though not overpowering in my opinion. The texture of the cake is fairly light. Credit goes to the Encyclopedia of Creative Cooking."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 35mins
• Ingredients: 13
• Yields: 1 10inch 12cup tube pan

ingredients

• 16 ounces brown sugar (2 cups packed)
• 8 ounces butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1⁄2 teaspoon allspice
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 12 ounces all-purpose flour (3 cups sifted)
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 4 ounces chopped pecans or 4 ounces walnuts (1 cup)
• 1 lb chopped dates (about 2 cups)
• 2 cups dark beer
• powdered sugar

directions

1. Grease a 10-inch tube pan; line with waxed paper and grease again.
2. If you don’t line the pan, you may never get the cake out.
3. Beat brown sugar and butter together well.
4. Add the eggs, beating well after each one.
5. Sift cinnamon, allspice, cloves, flour, baking soda and salt together.
6. Use a small amount of the flour mixture to dust the walnuts and dates.
7. Add remaining flour mixture to the creamed mixture, alternately with the beer, blending well after each addition.
8. Stir in the walnuts and dates.
9. Spoon batter into prepared pan.
10. Bake in preheated 350º oven for 1¼ hours or until cake tester comes out clean.
11. Let stand 10 minutes, invert onto a wire rack; carefully peel off paper.
12. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and place on a serving plate.

Reviews

[Irmgard]

I had some Charles Wells dark ale in the fridge that had gone flat so I decided to try this recipe. What a wonderful surprise! The cake baked up beautifully and is very moist and flavourful with a flavour reminiscent of gingerbread. This one is a real keeper. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Missy Wombat]

This cake is superb. This is the cake recipe I decided to christen my Tupperware silican kugelhopf mould with. I only used one stubby of beer - 375 ml - and baked for one hour only and then turned the oven off but left the cake sitting in there. The mould peeled off beautifully and the cake was cooked but moist and surprisingly light. I didn't have a dark beer so flogged one of DH's James Boags that were in the fridge and got away with it! DH thinks it is one of the best cakes I have ever made and I think this is a classic recipe too. Six star recipe, absolute keeper... this is definitely worth trying!

 

[East Wind Goddess]

This was tasty and rich. Having baked with dates before, I reduced the sugar to 1 1/2 cups and still thought it was too sweet for me--dates REALLY sweeten anything they're baked into. Still, this went very quickly at work and I know it was a welcome coffee break snack. Besides, it's always nice to be able to cook with beer :-) Hen Hao, MianBao!