Date-nut tea loaf

1 loaf

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
2 cups Unsifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon Baking powder
½ teaspoon Baking soda
¼ teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon Freshly grated nutmeg
¼ teaspoon Ground allspice
2 cups Chopped pitted dates
8 tablespoons Unsalted butter; softened
½ cup Light brown sugar
2 Extra-large eggs
1½ teaspoon Vanilla extract
⅓ cup Buttermilk
¾ cup Chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter and flour a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan.

Sift together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. Place the dates in a bowl, sprinkle them with 1 tablespoon of the sifted mixture and mix, coating the dates as evenly as possible. (The dates, if they are very soft, will clump together--just stir the flour in and around, separating the nuggets as you go.)

Cream the butter in the large bowl of an electric mixer on moderate speed for 3 minutes. Add the sugar and beat on moderately high speed for 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, blending well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract. On low speed, add half of the sifted ingredients, the buttermilk, then the balance of the sifted ingredients, mixing until the particles of flour are absorbed.

Stir in the dates and walnuts or pecans.

Pour and scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Bake the cake for 1 hour, or until a wooden pick inserted into the cake emerges clean and dry. The baked cake will pull away slightly from the sides of the pan.

Cool the cake in the pan on a rack for 4 to 5 minutes, invert onto another rack and turn rightside up. Cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

from Baking for Gift-Giving by Lisa Yockelson typed by Tiffany Hall-Graham Submitted By TIFFANY HALL-GRAHAM On 03-25-95

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