Chocolate Date Cake

I baked a chocolate-date cake for two adorable little girls last week. Charming chocolate and demure dates, energizing and detoxifying at the same time, they just seem to belong together. It was a moist, dense cake and the girls liked its comforting taste.

Chocolate-Date Cake Batter

Chocolate Date Cake
(for 12 generous servings)


2 cups, all purpose flour (unbleached)
1 cup, semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup, fresh dates, pitted and chopped, soaked in a cup of warm milk for 30 minutes
1 cup, pecan pieces (or walnut pieces)
1 1/4 cups, cane sugar
2 eggs or 1 ripe banana, mashed, about a cup
1/2 cup, ghee or peanut oil
1/2 cup, fresh orange juice
1 teaspoon each – baking powder and baking soda
1 teaspoon – vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Generously apply ghee or oil to a cake or bread pan.

2. In a bowl, beat the eggs or ripe banana, sugar, vanilla extract, orange juice and ghee or oil into smooth mixture. Then add and fold in the flour, chocolate chips, dates plus the milk they soaked in, pecans, baking powder and baking soda. Pour the batter into cake pan.

3. Bake 40 to 50 minutes, until the cake is firm and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan and then invert on to a wire rack or plate to cool completely before serving.

Chocolate Date Mini Cakes
Chocolate-Date Mini Cakes

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26 Responses to “Chocolate Date Cake”

  1. Nishi says:

    Yummy cake Indira. I have baked this cake without the chocolate. Would love to bake with it.

  2. N says:

    The picture looks delectable, Indira. I am not in general a sweet lover and yet this is making my mouth water!

    A question about “2 eggs or 1 ripe banana” – does replacing the eggs with banana make a difference to the cake’s softness, or anything else?

  3. Mahes says:

    Wow! Looks very yummy. Can’t wait to try it.

  4. sreelu says:

    love the square pan Indira, dates and chocolate now thats a flavor to try .

  5. vani says:

    loved the recepi.. can u pls tell me how u replace 1 egg with banana .. as we donot take eggs.. pls let me know.. 1 egg = ? banana for replacement in most of the cakes…where did u buy the pan?

  6. notyet100 says:

    luv the combination of chocolate nd date

  7. Padmaja says:

    Hi Indira, I would like to substitute cocoa powder instead of the choclate chips in this recipe. Any suggestions on how do to that? Also, any thoughts on adding flax seed powder? I love the idea of using ghee with choclate. I can imagine that it tastes luscious. My kids are going to *love* this cake.

  8. Rathi says:

    Indira,
    Love the pan and the recipe!

    Padmaja,
    The general swap is to replace some amount of flour (say 1/4 cup) with cocoa powder. You may want to add a little extra butter/oil to replace some of the fat chocolate adds. I would also use the same technique of replacing flour with flax seed powder..I have also used whole wheat pastry flour in chocolate cake recipes and it tastes yummy. Another tip is to substitue some of the ghee with yogurt. Chocolate cake can be made so healthy and still remain decadent:)

  9. harini-jaya says:

    No fans of choc cake at home..wait a min, I think my little one is just getting hooked on to choc in cakes..let me check it out!

  10. Archana G says:

    Tried the recipe and the cakes were done in 20-25 mins but I baked mine in a muffin pan.The chocolate chips were a little too much/too sweet.

  11. swati says:

    Wow. Yummy – I am going to try this out.

  12. Narayan says:

    Simply gorgeous… and where did you get the pan?

  13. Sudha says:

    Your cake looks yummy…pls tell us where did u get the pan from?

  14. Sammie says:

    Delicious little cakes! I love using dates in my baking adventures and these look great!

  15. This cake is superb really.. I love this and wanna taste it.
    Thanks for sharing the recipe. I can also try it now in my home…

  16. Padhu says:

    Cake looks fabulous.Also loved the cake pan

  17. Savithri says:

    Looks delicious! Will have to try this. Thanks for giving an eggless option:)

  18. Wow.. Simply delicious.. thanks for the awesome recipe 🙂

  19. Suda Ramachandran says:

    Indira, I baked this cake last weekend for my kids. I prefer eggfree cake recipes, so went with ripe banana, and also added ghee. The cake tasted very good, moist and soft. Thanks for the wonderful recipe.

  20. What a wonderful way to use one of my favorite foods: dates. A must try.

  21. Kalyani P says:

    wow looks yummy & tempting indira …….. lovely clicks ..

  22. Indira says:

    Thanks all for your comments.

    About the square mini cake pan: It was from Wal-mart.

    N: Ripe banana is a good binding agent and convenient substitute to eggs. The difference is mainly to make it vegan friendly, for me to avoid the egg smell.

    Vani: For 2 cups flour, a cup of ripe, mashed banana would be enough, means usually a medium-sized ripe banana.

    Padmaja: Rathi’s suggestions are good. Another way I bake this cake sometimes is – melt half the quantity of chocolate chips in a microwave, cool little bit and add them to cake batter. The baked cake will have that brown chocolate color.

    Rathi: thanks for the suggestions.

    Archana G and Sudha Ramachandran: Good to read that you tried this recipe. Thanks for letting me know.

  23. V. Sharma says:

    Thank you so much for this recipie. You make it look so simple. I really like your mashed bananas alternative for egg yolks.

  24. vasumathy says:

    I tried it just now with bananas. the out put is a fluffy tasty cake. It is a fifty fifty combination of wheat flour and maida which made a perfect cake. Thanks for the recipe.

  25. Priya says:

    Hi Indira, I tried the cake today but substituted 2 ripe bananas. Rest of the measurements were same. The cake turned out nice firm (the way i like) but fluffy and moist. The taste of the melting chocolate chips was yummy. Thank you so much for the recipe.

  26. Krithika says:

    Hi Indira, I tried this cake today. It was THE most delicious cake I have ever had that is eggless. I subsituted eggs with apple sauce (thats what I had) and orange juice with apple juice. Also I used Whole wheat flour. Still it turned really delicious. hats off to you.

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