Dates and Spice Cake - Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas 2008.

Ingredients:

• Eggs 3
  
• Butter 2/3 cup
  
• Chopped pitted dates  2 cup
  
• All-purpose flour 21/2 cup
  
• Baking powder 1 1/2 Tsp
  
• Baking soda 3/4 Tsp
  
• Molasses 1/4 cup
  
• Ground cinnamon, nutmeg,  and cloves 1/2 Tsp each
  
• Granulated sugar 1/2 cup
  
• Brown sugar 1/2 cup
  
• Vanilla 1 Tsp
  
• Half-and-half or light cream 1 1/4 cup
  
• Butter cream icing 3 to 5 cup
  
• Salt

For The Cake

Let eggs and butter stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. In a small bowl, combine dates and boiling water and keep it covered. Let it stand for 15 minutes; drain and set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and spices. Keep it aside.

In a bowl, beat butter on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Beat  sugar and vanilla well until it combines. Add eggs one at a time, beating 1 minute after each. In a bowl stir together half-and-half and molasses. Alternately add flour mixture and molasses mixture to egg mixture; beat on low after adding each until it combines. Stir it in dates. Spread the batter in a prepared pan.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until wooden pick inserted near centers comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely. 

Butter Cream Icing

The following amounts of ingredients is considered as a full recipe.

• Confectioner's sugar 1 lb (approximately 4 cups) 
  
• Solid white vegetable shortening 1 cup
  
• Meringue Pdr 1 Tbsp
  
• Vanilla essence 1 Tsp
  
• Milk or Water 2 Tbsp
  
• Salt (a pinch)

Meringue powder is a mixture of dried, powdered egg white, cornstarch and gums. It is used to stabilize butter cream icing. 

Vegetable Shortening is a flavourless semi-solid fat made from hydrogenated vegetable oil, used in food preparation, especially in baked goods.

Directions:

Cream shortening, essence and water. Add dry ingredients and mix on medium speed until all ingredients have been thoroughly mixed together. Blend an additional minute or until creamy. There are three types of icing consistencies depending on the need:

• Stiff consistency is used for decorations such as flower with upright petals like roses and sweet peas.
  
• Medium consistency creates stems, figure piping, borders and flowers with petals that lie flat. Add 1 Tsp water to each cup of stiff consistency icing. (One additional Tbsp of water when using the full recipe). Mix until well blended.
  
• Thin consistency is for writing, making stems, leaves, vines and icing a cake. Add 2 Tsp of water for each cup of stiff consistency icing (2 Tbsp of additional liquid for the full recipe). Mix until well blended.

[Courtesy:

Cake Recipe: Better Homes and Garden

Butter Cream Icing: Wilton Cake Decoration]

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