This cake was made on two occasions, once with butter and one time using 1/2 cup Canola oil in place of the butter and had good results using the oil --- this is a moist cake that is full of flavor, raisins may used instead of dates or a mixture of both --- because of the sweet glaze I found that 3/4 cup sugar for the cake batter was plenty, if you have an extreme sweet tooth then use 1 cup --- this freezes well :)