Sesame, Date and Banana Cake Recipe (2024)

Date syrup recipes online. Too easy not to make at home.
Ingredients
6 Medjool dates, pitted (about .3 lb)
1 cup hot water
½ teaspoon cinnamon
Place dates in a bowl and cover with hot water for at least 30 minutes until soft. Save the water.
Add dates to a powerful blender and blend, slowly adding in the water you soaked them in. Continue adding water until you achieve desired consistency (I use about ½ cup water).
The longer the dates are soaked, the smoother the consistency

For those of you whining about the date syrup, they have a new thing out. Perhaps you've heard if it? It's called the Internet, and you can find and order many great things on there, including date syrup! Heck, you could just hop in your car and tote your butt to a Middle East grocer or the international aisle of the grocery store. Or you can even look up recipes for date syrup online!! Imagine that! Still don't like my ideas?? Then MAKE A BOX CAKE instead of a NYT recipe!

Date syrup is a staple in my kitchen, along with pomegranate molasses, tahini, dates, sumac and all kinds of other Middle Eastern ingredients. I'm Anglo, my husband Italian. We love cooking Middle Eastern food and most ingredients easy to source either via ME markets or CoOps or even places like Cost Plus locally. Online otherwise. With respect to those "impatient" with recipes using ingredients new to them, isn't the point that it is fun to try new things as cooks?

Any suggestions for a substitute for the date syrup?

This is our new #2 favorite use for overripe bananas.I made two cakes. In one, I cut the dates more finely than called for. The cake with bigger chunks won; I won't bother dicing the dates next time. I also used non-Mejool dates.I added orange zest to one cake. It was good both ways.I never got around to making the frosting, but it sounds delicious.My #1 favorite use for old bananas, by the way, is a white miso and banana bread that can be found on the Food & Wine website.

THANK YOU for baking the cake and delivering a useful comment, instead of nattering endlessly about ingredients beforehand as so many seem to have done here.

Kalustyan's has many options for date syrup in the shop and by mail order- kalustyans.com
STACY- I AGREE!! I'm surprised to see so many NY times readers fretting over a SMALL ingredient that's just a garnish!- not at all necessary to make the actual cake!!

You can make your own by soaking dates in warm water for about 30 minutes and then blending at high speed until smooth. Press through a fine sieve. Or it can be ordered from Amazon or even Walmart.

No one... I get very impatient with recipes that call for very obscure (or nonexistent, thus needing to be concocted) ingredients and no explanation.

I find that tahini can be overpowering, but I followed the cake recipe exactly and the flavours of date, banana and sesame were well balanced. For the icing, I cut the quantity of tahini by about half, which for me was perfect. I left out the date syrup (ran out of steam!) and didn't feel I was missing out. My caramelised bananas were so soft though, even when cooled - I was expecting almost-crunchy slices to top it with? Overall, the cake went down very well and I'd make it again.

I made this for a dinner party I had over the weekend, it was a big hit.
My advice: keep an eye on the doneness of the cake. I wish I had checked on it sooner during the second half of the baking process. I did a toothpick test at 18 minutes after I placed the foil and it was already done. If I do it again I will check sooner!

I guess the assumption is that if you have the dates for the cake, you can make it. Here is one recipe..http://www.ohladycakes.com/how-to-make-date-syrup/

This is excellent! The flavors meld beautifully. Using Middle Eastern rather than more astringent Mediterranean tahini, I didn't find the recommend amount overwhelming at all. A springform pan in not necessary. I used a 2" deep, 8" cake pan, buttered and lined with parchment as recommended. The cake released easily. I agree with the reviewer who found that the cake baked more quickly than the recipe indicated - mine, too, was done @ 18 minutes after I covered it with foil.

Middle Eastern shops? My local store in Auckland NZ stocks it!

Baking time is excessive in my case, my springform pan or oven may get hotter than their test oven. I loved the caramelization from the high temp, but it did burn some spots. Keep your eyes on it after you tent it with foil, don’t trust that it’ll take more than 15 more minutes.

Delicious cake, made it with 2/3 the sugar and just 2 tbsp of tahini in the icing. It turned out a tad over baked and dry, next time I will keep an eye on at the tail end of baking and take it out a bit sooner. This time, we ended up using an orange soak to make it more moist.

I'll start by saying that I didn't make the cream cheese-tahini topping, so this will be entirely about the cake.This one didn't wow me. The banana was the strongest flavour in the mix, overshadowing the other flavours. The tahini didn't come through, nor did the sesame, which was also disappointing. I don't think I'll be making this one for myself again, but it's a good way to use up any leftover dates you have.

Absolutely lovely. >banana bread, imo.Cake is only barely sweet so it's perfect for breakfast/snack. I love the balance of a sweeter icing with it. The tahini in the icing was subtle and perfect. Didn't have extra bananas to caramelize so I made a quick stovetop honey & sesame seed candied hazelnut topping and the added texture was nice. Made me want to try nuts in the batter next time.Hand-stir the dry ingredients to avoid over mixing. Don't let the edges get very brown or it'll be dry.

This is so delicious, a new favorite of the family. In the cake batter, I added a couple of dishes of dried sumac, because why the heck not???

As a few others have mentioned, my cake came out a tiny bit dry! I would check on the cake after 10 minutes under foil. I’d also add a bit more butter… can never go wrong with more butter! I also used black sesame seeds instead for a poppyseed look!

I baked it for 20 minutes with the foil, instead of 25-30 as written. It still was a bit overcooked on the bottom, so I'll do 15 minutes next time. My oven is normally fine with suggested temps. Otherwise, it's a really good cake. Thanks for the notes about baking time.

This is delicious! I had been wanting to make this forever and it did not disappoint. HOWEVER, the NYT needs to fix the cooking time. Luckily I read the other comments. After tenting the cake, it was done in about an additional 14 minutes and not 25-30. It would have been so dry if I had followed the recipe. Also, I made my own date syrup and while it was not difficult, it was time consuming. I don't regret it though!

I used a 10" springform so it was thinner and it cooked a bit drier. Overall, the recipe is great. Next time I might add a little more liquid (yogurt or sour cream to the batter).

What could I use as a substitute for mascarpone?

I'm a date lover who dislikes medjools in spite of the big push for them to be the premier California date. Too sweet. Deglet Noor is my favorite and does any recipe well plus hand to mouth and several other drier dates I like too. Ebay sellers have them all as do web sellers from S CA. Real maple syrup is a lot less trouble and can be tasty when used beside dates.

I made the cake only. I diced strips of rind from the the orange that I juiced and added it the mix. I love the crackly texture and smoky flavor of sesame in the cake. The cake was delicate and tender, and not too sweet. I dusted the top with confectioner’s sugar. Next time I might add more dates. This recipe turned out well for me. Baked at 350 degrees for approximately 50 minutes total.

Made these as muffins and they turned out fantastic. Made to recipe except I subbed 2/3 of the flour for whole wheat white flour. It yielded 10 muffins using a 3 tbsp scoop, could have made 12 if i were more careful. Skipped both toppings and sprinkled with Demerara sugar before baking. Baked at 375 for 20 min then another 5 at 350 with foil over them because they were getting pretty brown. Might not have needed the foil, but they came out perfectly done. I might try it in a loaf pan next time.

After addding the first cup of flour and seeing the dough become oversaturated and dry, I started having doubts. The result confirmed: this cake was extremely dry (I added 3 and not 2 bananas) and tasted mostly of flour. I observed the recipe to the T yet none of the other ingredients even remotely stood out. As this is the second cake by Ottolenghi that didn't work for me, I'm not sure I would even repeat this one in the hopes of a better result. Will stick to less fancy recipes.

I made these as muffins as the Times suggested on their IG feed. I made 6 Texas sized muffins lined with coconut oil and parchment and watched the oven like a hawk- it didn’t need to be covered halfway- just less time baking and you could tell they were done by tapping the tops of the muffins. I added vanilla and debated the cream cheese topping - instead just used a sprinkle of Demerara sugar before baking.

Thank you for this recipe. I have never in my life made any cake, or perhaps anything, that turned out this well. I cannot believe that I made this, with the tenderest of crumb and layering of flavors. I was afraid the tahini would be overbearing, because I am not used to it, and because the smell of the batter was lovely but strong. Not so. The flavor was as delicate as the crumb. And I did not embellish. Frosting only. Thank you again, Chef Ottolenghi.