Date and Rooibos Loaf Cake

This date and rooibos loaf cake is sweet, moist from the dates incorporated in the cake, and fragrant from the rooibos tea infused water in the batter. 

This cake is so moist and it stays fresh for at least four days. The date and tea infused water in the batter probably have something to do with it. 

I've been enjoying baking with tea lately, including this pain de mie infused with chamomile and rose tea. The results are subtle, but the fragrance is definitely intoxicating. Plus, I love learning about new teas, including apple cider tea. 

This cake calls for rooibos tea (affiliate link).

What is rooibos?

Rooibos is a caffein-free herb from South Africa. It supposedly is a great antioxidant, and is red in color. 

You can use any dates you like in this loaf. Medjool dates, if available, are probably the most tasty. you can also use the less expensive deglet noor dates and still get a delicious cake. Deglet noors are grown locally, so those are the dates that I used. 

The cake was still amazingly sweet and caramel-ly in flavor. 

Ingredients you will need for this date cake:

Rooibos Tea bags: I found mine from The Republic of Tea. 
Pitted dates: You can use Medjool or Deglet Noors.
Baking soda
Butter
All purpose flour
Salt
Light brown sugar or muscovado sugar
Baking powder
Cinnamon
An egg
Vanilla bean paste

This cake is super easy to make. All you need is a 2-pound loaf pan for equipment. I'm sure a 1 1/2 pound loaf pan would work too but may take a little longer to bake. 

This cake is delicious on its own. It's also tasty served with a bit of sweetened whipped cream. 

For a deeper flavor, toast slices of this cake and serve with salted butter. 

Welcome to the Cake Slice Bakers. 

Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the current book we are baking through. This year it is The New Way To Cake by Benjamina Ebuehi. We each choose one cake to bake, and then on the 20th we all post about our cake on our blogs. 

There are a few rules that we follow, but the most important ones are to have fun and enjoy baking & eating cakes! Follow our Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest pages where you can find all of our cakes, as well as inspiration for many other cakes. You can also click on the links below to take you to each of our cakes. 

If you have a blog and are interested in joining The Cake Slice Bakers and baking along with us, please send an email to thecakeslicebakers at gmail dot com for more details. The Cake Slice Bakers also have a new Facebook group called The Cake Slice Bakers and Friends. This group is perfect for those who do not have a blog but want to join in the fun and bake through this book.

Our choices for September 2020 were ~ 

Date & Rooibos Loaf

• All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Making Miracles
• Karen's Kitchen Stories (you are here)

Plum & Black Peppercorn Cake

• Camille Cooks
• A Little Bit of All Right

Sour Cherry & Mahleb Crumble Cake

• A Day in the Life on the Farm

I love cakes that are easy to make and that moist for days. This cake is one of them. It's a cross between a quick bread and a cake, and with the added dates and date infused water, it is super sweet. The rooibos tea in the cake adds such an amazing fragrance. 

The original recipe calls for muscovado sugar, but I substituted light brown sugar with great results. As much as I love new ingredients, my pantry is pretty full!

This Date and Rooibos Loaf Cake is super moist, sweet, and delicious served toasted and slathered with salted with butter.

Date and Rooibos Loaf Recipe

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Yield: 10 servings

Author: Karen Kerr

This date and rooibos loaf cake is sweet, moist from the dates incorporated in the cake, and fragrant from the rooibos tea infused water in the batter.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (140 grams) roughly chopped pitted dates
• 1 cup (240 grams) boiling water
• 2 rooibos teabags
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter
• 1 3/4 cups (225 grams) all purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 125 grams (1/2 cup) light brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Instructions:

1. Heat your oven to 350 degrees F and line a 2 pound loaf pan with parchment paper and spray with spray oil. 
2. Place the dates into a heat proof bowl and pour the boiling water over the dates. Add the tea bags. Stir in the baking soda and butter and let the ingredients sit for 10 minutes. 
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, and cinnamon. 
4. Once the dates have softened and the water has cooled, whisk in the egg and vanilla. Sift the flour mixture into the date mixture with a mesh sieve. Fold all of the ingredients together and pour them into the parchment lined pan. 
5. Bake the loaf for 40 to 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Turn the cake out onto a wire rack to cool completely. 

Calories

231.36

Fat (grams)

6.83

Sat. Fat (grams)

3.98

Carbs (grams)

40.43

Fiber (grams)

1.84

Net carbs

38.59

Sugar (grams)

21.57

Protein (grams)

3.33

Sodium (milligrams)

289.40

Cholesterol (grams)

34.71

https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2020/09/date-and-rooibos-loaf-cake.html

Karen's Kitchen Stories

dates, cake, rooibos

Cake, quick bread

English, American

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