Grandma Richardson’s Date Pudding

It’s full of dates, nuts and gooey caramel runs throughout the moist cake. Absolutely delicious!

My mother wanted this pudding, made from her mom’s recipe, for Christmas dinner. We found it in the cookbook that I had put together for my mom, her four sisters and their children years ago. It was submitted by Aunt Olive and this is what she said. “I have very few of Mother's recipes. I can not remember seeing her use a cookbook but I'm sure she did some — but most of the times it was from memory. I remember her telling that as a young girl she worked for a German family and that she learned a lot about cooking from this German lady. Grandmother Wolf (this would be my mom’s grandmother; my great grandmother) was an excellent cook so Mother had a good teacher.”

Here’s the recipe with a few minor updates:

Grandma's Date Pudding

Cake Base

1 cup all-purpose flour                                  

1 cup granulated sugar (this is what it called for but could be reduced to 3/4 cup which would cut some of the sweetness)

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup milk

1. Spray an 8x8-inch pan. Preheat oven to 350°
2. Mix together above ingredients and pour into prepared pan. 
   
   
   
   

Topping:

1 cup pitted and chopped dates

2 cups water              

1 tablespoon butter

½ cup chopped walnuts

½ cup packed brown sugar

1. Place all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil.

   

   Ingredients are in saucepan. 

   

   Ingredients at boiling stage, read to carefully pour over the cake.

2. Then, carefully pour liquid over the cake. Do NOT stir or mix.       

   

   Ready to go into the oven.

3. Bake at 350° for 35 to 55 minutes. (The original recipe calls for 35 minutes but my cake was not set. I reset for 10 minute, checked and reset timer until the cake was firm on top and a toothpick inserted into cake came out relatively clean.) 
   

Recipe without photos . . . 

Grandma's Date Pudding

Cake Base

1 cup all-purpose flour                                   

1 cup granulated sugar (this is what it called for but could be reduced to 3/4 cup which would cut some of the sweetness)

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup milk

1. Spray an 8x8-inch pan. Preheat oven to 350°
2. Mix together above ingredients and pour into prepared pan. 

Topping: 

1 cup pitted and chopped dates

2 cups water               

1 tablespoon butter 

½ cup chopped walnuts

½ cup packed brown sugar

1. Place all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
2. Then, carefully pour liquid over the cake. Do NOT stir or mix.                               
3. Bake at 350° for 35 to 55 minutes. (The original recipe calls for 35 minutes but my cake was not set. I reset for 10 minute, checked and reset timer until the cake was firm on top and a toothpick inserted into cake came out relatively clean.)