Delia Smith sticky date cake is her boil-and-bake fruit cake, full of dates and prunes and made with condensed milk instead of sugar and eggs. You simmer the fruit with the butter and condensed milk, then bake the cake at 170°C for just under 2 hours. One 20cm cake gives about 12 slices.
The recipe began as the Sticky Date Cake in her Complete Cookery Course (1983 and 1992), where she calls it an example of her boil-and-bake method. Her Delia’s Cakes (2014) version adds prunes, and she calls it “an unequivocal winner”. Her aunt’s boiled fruit cake also simmers the fruit first, but it uses sugar and eggs.
The boiled condensed milk gives this cake a dark toffee flavour, Delia explains, so it needs no sugar at all. This Delia Smith sticky date cake recipe keeps well for several weeks in an airtight container. Her website says it also freezes for up to 3 months. Wrap it in freezer film and a freezer bag, then defrost it at room temperature.
Delia Smith Sticky Prune and Date Cake
Dark, very moist and full of fruit, with chunky marmalade in the mix and a shiny glaze brushed over the top once it is cold.
12
servings15
minutes1
hour55
minutes375
kcalIngredients
- For the cake:
175g dates, stoned and chopped
125g ready-to-eat prunes, chopped
75g raisins
75g currants
200g block butter
200ml water
300g condensed milk
110g plain flour
110g wholemeal flour
a pinch of salt
½ level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 rounded tablespoon chunky marmalade
- For the glaze:
1½ tablespoons marmalade
½ tablespoon water
Directions
- Oven: Heat the oven to 170°C, fan 145°C, gas mark 3. Line the base and side of a 20cm loose-based round cake tin.
- Boil: Put the dates, prunes, raisins, currants, butter, water and condensed milk in a saucepan. Bring it to the boil, stirring often so it does not stick.
- Simmer: Let it simmer for exactly 3 minutes, still stirring now and then, and do not leave the pan. Tip it into a large mixing bowl and leave it to cool for about 30 minutes.
- Flour: Meanwhile, sift both flours with the salt and bicarbonate of soda onto a plate. Tip any bits of bran left in the sieve back in.
- Mix: Stir the flour mixture into the cooled fruit, with the rounded tablespoon of chunky marmalade.
- Bake: Spoon it into the tin and level the top. Bake on a lower shelf, with the top of the tin level with the middle of the oven, for 1 hour 50 minutes. Look at it halfway, and if the top is getting dark, cover it with a double square of baking parchment.
- Glaze: Cool the cake in the tin for 5 minutes, then on a wire rack. When it is cold, warm the marmalade with the water in a small pan and brush it all over the top.
Notes
- Chop the dates and prunes to about the size of the raisins, so the fruit spreads evenly through the cake, which is my own tip.
FAQs
Can I make it with dates only, without prunes?
Yes, her older Sticky Date Cake uses no prunes at all, in both the 1983 and the 1992 printings. It has 225g of dates with raisins, sultanas and currants instead, while her date and walnut loaf pairs the dates with walnuts.
Why is there no sugar or egg in it?
The condensed milk does the job of the sugar in this sticky date cake, because boiling it gives a dark toffee sweetness. The bicarbonate of soda lifts the cake in place of eggs, which is my own explanation of how it works.
How do I make a smaller 18cm cake?
Use two-thirds of every ingredient for an 18cm round tin, her website says. Bake it at the same 170°C on a lower shelf, check it after 45 minutes, and expect it to need about 30 minutes less.
Can I make it gluten-free?
Yes, her team tested this cake with gluten-free flour for Delia’s Cakes and was happy with the result, according to her website. Swap both flours for gluten-free ones, and check that the marmalade and dried fruit are gluten-free too, which is my own advice.
Why is my old Delia book’s version different?
The recipe changed over the years, and her website says you can follow either one. The 1992 book makes a larger cake in a 20cm square tin, with margarine, a 400g tin of condensed milk, sultanas and no prunes.
That older cake bakes for 2½ hours, covered with paper with a 50p-sized hole from the very start. It can also be baked in two 450g (1lb) loaf tins for half the time.
