Geraldine's Chocolate-Date Cake - by Summer

I purposely picked this cake to make this weekend for when my parents came to visit.  It's a chocolate cake, which I knew would be right up my dad's alley.  And my husband's mom also makes a date cake, so my husband was excited for this cake as well.

I know Lisa won't be overly excited about the coffee that the dates need to soak in before you puree them for this recipe.  In hindsight, I am not overly excited about this step because of my love/hate relationship with my food processor.  Not only did it leak and spray out everywhere when I turned on the food processor, but it also scared my son who was sitting nearby in his high chair watching me make the cake!  Other than that issue, this was an easy cake to put together.

It baked for about 55 minutes, but it was hard for me to initially tell if the cake was done.  The recipe says it's done when it pulls back from the edges.  It didn't really do that, but the edges definitely looked done.  The recipe also said when you touch the cake and it springs back lightly it's done.  Well - I tried that and burned my finger since you sprinkle chocolate chips on top (Lisa - do not try this method!!!) I ended up sticking a toothpick into the center and it came out clean, so I deemed it done.

I was worried it would be too dry, but it stayed nice and moist.  It was a big hit with my dad and my husband.  I explained that the cake would keep for 4 days at room temperature (per the cookbook) to which they both started laughing.  They couldn't understand how this cake would be around for that long!!!  I would definitely make this cake again, but next time, I'll probably use the blender instead of my food processor!!!