The Recipe Box

Date Honey Cake

jeffraben.com/recipes · No. 470

A loaf cake built on dates three ways — chopped dates, silan (date honey), and apple puree — with pistachios and toasted almonds. From British Jewish chef Denise Phillips.

Recipe no.
#470
Course
Dessert
Prep
15 min
Cook
50 min
Source
Leket Israel — Leave No Crumb Behind (2025)

Ingredients

Method

  1. Line a 9x5-inch (1kg) loaf pan with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
  2. Place the chopped dates in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Let them soak while you prepare the batter.
  3. In a large bowl, combine the chopped pistachios, drained soaked dates, silan, vegetable oil, and apple puree. Stir gently to combine.
  4. Add the whole wheat flour, cinnamon, almond extract, baking powder, and salt and mix until just combined.
  5. Transfer to the loaf pan, top with the toasted almonds, and bake until a tester comes out clean.
By Denise Phillips (jewishcookery.com), from the Leket Israel 'Leave No Crumb Behind' honey cake collection (Rosh Hashanah 2025). The PDF page cuts off at the final baking step — bake time is standard for a 9x5 loaf, roughly 45-55 minutes at 350°F; check with a tester.

dates dessert honey cake make-ahead rosh hashanah

Notes

Nothing yet. If you have cooked this — what you changed, what went wrong, what your mother did differently — it is worth more here than anywhere else.

Jeff reads these before they go on the recipe.