This cake was our dessert on Christmas eve, along with a refreshing citrus fuit salad. The fragrance that came from the oven during baking was intoxicating, and the cake itself didn’t let us down; it was sweet and moist and delicious, with just enough spice and a decadent accent of cognac from the icing.

We had fresh dates for the cake, but they looked and tasted a lot like the regular dried dates. Maybe they weren’t quite as sweet, and probably a little moister, but I think the dried variety would work very well in this cake.

For the cake, I used:

• 300 g cranberry soy yogurt
• 100 g plain soy yogurt
• 1,5 dl dark syrup
• 100 g plum jam
• 2 dl vegan margarine, liquid or melted
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 4 teaspoons vanilla sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 4 dl wheat flour
• 150 g fresh dates, chopped

Icing:

• 1 tablespoon cognac
• 1 dl confectioner’s sugar

Decoration:

• a couple of fresh dates
• a pink peppercorn
• some cinnamon

To make the cake batter, I just mixed the liquid ingredients (soy yogurts through margarine) in one bowl, and the dry ingredients (cinnamon through wheat flour) in another. I combined the two, mixed just enough to create a smooth batter, and then folded in the chopped dates. Now, I poured the batter in a greased and floured, round cake pan, and baked the cake in 200 degress Celsius for about 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake came out clean.

I let the cake cool down for a few hours after baking, and then decorated it. I mixed the icing ingredients with a fork, and drizzled the icing over the cake. Then I chopped a few dates, and decorated the cake with them, forming a flower in the center with a pink pepper corn surrounded by date petals.