Chocolate Date Cake with Chocolate Rum Ganache

This Chocolate Date Cake is a dark luscious moist, rich dessert, covered in silky chocolate rum ganache. Sweetened with goodness of soft and chewy Medjool Dates, peanut butter, cocoa powder and a little vanilla, this is a high fibre sugar free chocolate cake you’ll will make more than once.

Course Dessert

Cuisine Australian

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 50

Servings slices

Calories 37kcal

Author Kim

Ingredients

Cake

¾ cup Medjool dates pitted
¼ cup boiling water
½ cup Sugar Free or Natural peanut butter room temperature
½ cup Unsalted Butter softened
1 cup Monkfruit Sweetener (White) see notes
⅓ cup Unsweetened Cocoa powder
3 medium eggs
3 teaspoon Vanilla essence
1 cup Spelt flour
1 ½ Bicarb soda
½ teaspoon Baking powder

Chocolate Ganache

1 cup whipping cream
⅓ cup Monkfruit Sweetener (White)
1 cup Sugar Free Chocolate bits
⅓ cup Sugar Free or Natural peanut butter
2 tablespoons Rum

Optional Decoration

1 cup Mixed fresh berries

Instructions

Cake

Line a springform tin with baking paper, and preheat the oven to 170 degrees C / 340 degrees F
Remove dates from fridge let them come to room temperature
Add dates and boiling water to food processor or high speed blender and blitz into a paste (see notes for alternative if no food processor)
Add unsalted butter and peanut butter to blender and blitz until combined
Add sweetener, cocoa powder, eggs and vanilla to food processor/blender and blitz until combined.
Add flour, bicarb soda and baking powder to a large mixing bowl. Pour batter into the flour and use a spatula to gently fold through
Pour batter into the lined spring form tin and smooth out with a spoon. Bake for 50 minutes.
Test with a cake skewer. If it comes out clean, cake is cooked.
Let cake cool in the tin to room temperature before removing.
Put cake in an air tight container overnight while you wait for ganache to be ready

Chocolate Ganache

Add cream to a pot on medium heat. Heat cream for 1 minute.
Add chocolate, sweetener, peanut butter and rum
Stir until combined, pour into a jug and cover with plastic wrap or lid and refrigerate overnight to firm it up.

Decoration

Use a large spoon to smooth out the ganache thickly across the top and around the sides of the cake.
Decorate with blueberries, raspberries and blackberries.

Notes

Lakanto Monkfruit Sweetener is a natural sweetener alternative: I buy mine from Woolworths in Australia. Its also available at health food shops and on Amazon.
Storage: Store cake with ganache in the fridge in an air tight container for upto 1 week.
No food Processor:

a. At Step 3 - make the date paste using a mortar and pestle, or use a large bowl and mash with a fork

b. At Step 4 – use a large bowl to mix together date paste, softened peanut butter and butter, (electric beaters are recommended here)

c. At Step 5 - to the same bowl add sweetener, cocoa powder, eggs and vanilla. Stir in with a spoon and then use electric beaters to further combine

Baking Tips

Spelt Flour: There are two types of spelt flour, white and wholemeal. Either will work fine in this recipe, however I used wholemeal.
Peanut Butter: make sure to use a sugar free or natural peanut butter. This means that the only thing on the ingredients label is nuts. Make sure it is at room temperature and soft and pliable. If making in cold weather, you may need to microwave the peanut butter to make it soft (gooey, not runny)
Chocolate: two types of chocolate are included – unsweetened cocoa powder (available in the baking aisle of supermarkets) and sugar free chocolate. If sugar free chocolate chips are not available, use a sugar free chocolate bar and chop up into bits.
Lining the tin: line with baking/parchment paper to prevent the cake from sticking. Make sure to line the base and sides of tin
Tin: I used a round springform tin that has a removable base(makes it super easy to get the cake out)
Is it Cooked? Test cake with a cake skewer to see if cooked al the way through. If the skewer comes out clean, cake is cooked.
How To Store: in an air tight container in the fridge for upto 5 days
Can it be Frozen: Yes, it will freeze nicely with the ganache for 1 month. To defrost, put it in the fridge the day before you need it.
Quantity: This recipe makes one cake (10 slices). You could make a double batch of the batter for a double layer cake with chocolate ganache in between the layers and on top (still 10 slices).

d. At Step 6 – loose the electric beaters, and add the flour, bicarb soda and baking powder to the bowl, folding through with a spatula.

Nutrition