One of the most popular Australian desserts is date pudding. It’s a delicious treat, especially when served with some butterscotch sauce or plain caramel. What happens, however, when a whimsical pastry chef (as Sidney-based Adriano Zumbo is) takes this combination as a starting point for creating a new delight, can be described only by the most enthusiastic words.
“Sticky tape the date’ – when I saw this cake in “Zumbo” book, I was impressed by the way it looked – a row of date logs, covered in coconut “snowflakes” and a glimmering caramel glaze. And! There is much more inside the gateau: the strips of date gel and caramel chew which compliment the overall flavour of the chocolate cake batter, enriched with dried apricots and dates. The chocolate caramel (!) which goes in the bottom of the baking tin, has a beautiful aroma and that mouth-watering caramel maison that covers the whole cake is sinfully more-ish.
There was actually a lot of mess in the kitchen after making this “sticky tape the date”: a lot of elements require time to make and great patience to measure all the ingredients correctly. But I really enjoyed the process! No doubt, the best part of it was rolling date and coconut paste into logs – after this funny work my hands had an incredibly delicious scent!
After sticking the last log onto the caramel glaze, I had to admit that this cake has a very unusual, yet harmonic, appearance. What about the taste? Definitely, it has a greater dimension than a plain date pudding with caramel sauce: it’s rich, it’s beautiful, with an exotic hint of coconut. A great twist on a traditional Aussie dessert!
The recipe can be found in the book "Zumbo" by Adriano Zumbo
I really like the presentation on this date cake, the date logs on the top is really creative. No doubt that this is a tasty sticky treat. Your photos are very enticing-thanks for sharing!
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