Dr Maggie J Watson

This cake is from the Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant book published way back in 1990. I’ve modified it a bit*. This is recipe number 2 for 2016.

1/2 cup butter (room temp, soft and squishy)

1/2 cup sugar

4 eggs

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup flour**

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 cup whole milk^

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract%

1 cup pitted, chopped dates

1/2 cup chopped pistachios

Preheat oven to 170ºC (340°F). Cream together butter and sugar with a fork and beat in eggs one at time. Combine baking powder, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger in a separate, small bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture all at once and mix well. Stir in the milk and vanilla and mix well. Add the chopped dates and pistachios and stir again to distribute them evenly through the mixture. Butter and flour an angel food cake pan#, pour batter into pan and distribute evenly. Bake for 30 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted comes out clean.

Yum!

*Don’t I always?

**NOT self-raising, just plain or all-purpose

^same as full cream

%if there’s one thing I’ve learned about baking, ALWAYS buy the best vanilla you can. I prefer concentrated extract because of the extra flavour, but it is pretty expensive.

#you know, the ones that look like a bundt pan, but have a removable bottom? You could also use any old 9″ (23cm) pan, but sometimes the centre doesn’t bake all the way through…