Medjool Date Loaf

Cultivation of the date may have its origins in and around the Persian Gulf as early as 6000 BC. Highly nutritious, the date fruit has been shown to be a potent antioxidant due to its free-radical scavenging abilities.

There are more than two dozen varieties of dates being cultivated today. For this recipe I choose the Medjool date. Originally grown in Morocco, it's now grown in California and Arizona. The Medjool date belongs to the 'soft' date group and its fruit is large, sweet and succulent -- perfect for this walnut date loaf.

The Brits lay claim to this as one of their traditional cakes. While I used a loaf pan, hence the name "Date Loaf", you can use a cake pan as the end product more closely resembles a cake than a bread.















Assemble the following ingredients to create a single loaf:

• 2 cups of dates chopped into small but not too-small pieces
• 1 cup of walnuts, broken into bite-size pieces
• 2 tablespoons rum or orange juice
• 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons of all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup of your favourite margarine
• 1 1/4 cups of lightly packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup boiling water
• 2 eggs well beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of shaved nutmeg

Preheat your oven to 325F and brush your loaf pan with margarine. Then, sift together your flour and salt and set aside, and beat your eggs well and set them aside.


Combine the chopped dates and walnuts, and drizzle your rum (or orange juice) over the mixture. Let soak.

Cream your margarine and gradually blend in the brown sugar.

Stir in the soaked dates and walnuts.

Then, dissolve the baking soda in the boiling water and stir in.

Now, stir in your well beaten eggs a little at a time and add your vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Finally, add the dry ingredients (flour, salt) and combine thoroughly.

Pour the final mixture into the loaf pan and place in your preheated oven.

Bake for 90 minutes (70 minutes or so on convect).


Remove and let stand on a cake rack for 15 minutes before loosening the edges.

Turn the loaf out onto the rack and let cool.




Serve, and Bon Appétit!!