Geraldine's Chocolate-Date Cake - by Lisa

I don't think I've ever actually eaten a date before, and I actually looked online to see what the difference was between a date and a fig! Learn something new everyday, I tell ya! Anywho, I had no idea what to expect from this recipe, although the picture certainly made the cake look yummy! While this recipe actually had a fair number of steps to go through, it was still pretty simple to pull together. I did make one major change, and that was substituting water for the coffee. I wanted to be able to enjoy a whole piece of this cake, and if I added the coffee, I'd probably only be able to manage one small bite. The dates I picked up from Trader Joe's were not pitted, so I had to spend sometime cutting them open and removing the pits.

It didn't take long, but those suckers are sticky! After soaking them in hot water, I opted to puree them in my new favorite kitchen machine, the Vitamix. And anytime I get to put my Vitamix to the test is a happy time for me! :D These were pureed in about 30 seconds flat, if not sooner!

The batter came together easily, and sifting in the dry ingredients then stirring in the date puree came next. I poured it into the prepared cake pan and sprinkled the half cup of chocolate chips over the top. I let it bake for 60 min even, and I think it was pretty nicely done at that point.

 

We actually had to wait until much later that evening to sample it as Wednesday nights are our newly minted official date nights! So after Hubby and I got home, he served us up a slice each and we dug in. I thought from the little sample I took of the batter that the finished product would be more chocolaty than anything else. I guess the composition changed a bit while baking, because it had a distinctly unusual aftertaste that I didn't quite care for. Hubby thought it was ok, and I think he enjoyed it a little more than I did, but neither of us were terribly thrilled with it. I'm sure it would have been better with the coffee in it, if only I liked the taste of coffee. I had no idea what else I could have substituted tho, so I just stuck with the water. Oh well, can't win 'em all! :)