Date, Walnut + Orange Cake

Name: Date, Walnut + Orange Cake
Prep time: 50 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: Serves: 6 to 8
Cuisine: Iranian
Ingredients: 1 teaspoon baking powder; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 5 eggs (at room temperature); ½ teaspoon fine sea salt; 1 tablespoon butter or oil; 20 Medjool dates (about 2 cups/480 g), any remaining hard stalk parts removed and pitted; 2 tablespoons date molasses; 2 tablespoons milk or fresh orange juice; 1 teaspoon orange blossom water; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; ½ cup/120 ml fresh orange juice; 2 cups/250 g walnuts, ground; ½ cup/110 g butter (at room temperature) or ½ cup/120 ml oil; 1 cup/120 g unbleached all-purpose flour; Zest of 1 orange; ¼ cup/40 g raw sesame seeds

cayk-e ranginak

Preparation info

Serves:
6 to 8

Difficulty
Easy
Ready in
1 hr 30

Appears in

Cooking in Iran

By Najmieh Batmanglij

Published 2020

About

I was served this cake with very strong coffee in Bushehr—a marriage made in heaven! However, when testing the recipe, I found that orange juice works much better than the milk traditionally used in the batter.

Ingredients

date

20 Medjool dates (about 2 cups/480 g), any remaining hard stalk parts removed and pitted

Asia
Iran
Bushehr
Cake
Vegetarian

Method

For the dates: Dice the pitted dates into ½in/1cm pieces, then chill in the freezer for 30 minutes.
Place an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F/180°C.
Butter an 8in/20cm-diameter cake pan and line the base with parch