Dappled Date Cake
Natasha Pickowicz's date cake employs a genius technique—a sesame crust that both adds deep flavor and helps the cake retain moisture.
- MakesMakes one 8-inch (20 cm) round cake Serves 8
- Cook Time30 minutes inactive time
- Active time plus cooling20 minutes active time
An upside-down cake is my very favorite way of incorporating dried or fresh fruit into a batter. It's like having two desserts in one—a triumphant fruit tart on top and a golden cake underneath. Here, torn dates, scattered into the bottom of a coconut sugar-crusted cake pan, create a dappled, sticky camouflage on the surface, while the ring of sesame seeds adds crunch and structure to each slice. It’s as special as an ambitious layer cake, but with a fraction of the work.
Excerpted from More Than Cake by Natasha Pickowicz (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2023. Photographs by Graydon Herriot.
Weight-volume equivalents and recipe style may differ from recipes developed and published by Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street.
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