My husband bough a pack of Dried Dates by mistake as he believed they were Prunes. Dates and Prunes are very different, though he didn’t know the difference. Anyway, I needed to use those Dried Dates. I chopped them up and added to Butter Cake. The brilliant idea of mine was adding Carrot as well. The result was a very yummy and moist cake. I could have added Nuts as well.

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Cake Tin

20cm Round Springform Cake Tin

Ingredients

125g Butter *softened
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/4 cup Caster Sugar
1/4 teaspoon Salt
2 large Eggs *room temperature
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
150ml Milk *room temperature OR slightly warmed
1 & 1/2 cups Self-Raising Flour
1/2 teaspoon Bi-carb Soda
1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1 large Carrot *coarsely grated
1 cupful chopped Dried Dates

Method

1. Line the base and sides of a round springform cake tin with baking paper. Preheat oven to 170℃.
2. Prepare Carrot and Dried Dates. Coarsely grate Carrot. Remove seeds from Dried Dates and coarsely chop them up.
3. Use a whisk to beat softened Butter and Sugars in a bowl until smooth. Add Eggs, one at a time, and beat well until creamy. Add all other ingredients and mix with a spatula or large metal spoon until combined well.
4. Spoon into the prepared cake tin and smooth the surface. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until cooked through. *Note: If the cake turns too dark, cover with a sheet of Foil.
5. Stand the cake in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Carefully peel away baking paper, and leave to cool.
6. *Note: The photo below is the same cake baked in a standard size loaf tin.