Date and Walnut Cake (Amish Date Pudding Recipe)

Date and Walnut Cake Recipe

Date and walnut cake is a quick and easy dessert to make. And it's delicious to eat at any time of the year. But it's an especially great make-ahead Christmas dessert.

You can bake this date and nut cake a few weeks before Christmas and freeze it to keep it fresh. Then remove it from the freezer the day before Christmas to let it thaw.

On Christmas morning, cut the cake into little squares, mix it with whipped cream or Cool Whip, and drizzle a bit of caramel sauce over the top. Now you have a delicious Amish date pudding dessert. It's an easy and perfect dessert for your dinner party or Christmas gatherings.

For making Date Pudding:

1. Cool Whip or sweetened whipped cream to mix with the cake.
2. Caramel or butterscotch sauce are optional toppings that add additional sweetness and a decadent flavor. It also provides a visually appealing drizzle on top.

Chopped Dates

This recipe for date pudding is super easy to make. If you can find chopped dates, feel free to buy them.

I use whole pitted dates and chop them with my Ninja chopper. (Yes, I use this handy gadget a lot :).) I also chop the nuts with my Ninja.

If you don't have a chopper (you should invest in one 😉 ), you can use kitchen shears or a knife to chop the dates and nuts.

How to Make Date and Walnut Cake Recipe With Egg

To make date and nut cake put the chopped dates into a large bowl. Add the butter and pour the boiling hot water over the top. Let it rest for about five minutes.

Add the sugar, beaten eggs, and vanilla to the date mixture. Mix well. Then add the dry ingredients and mix to combine. Stir in the chopped nuts. Spread the cake batter into a greased 9 x 13" cake pan and bake for about 25 - 30 minutes.

Cool the cake. Now you can cover the cake with a couple of layers of plastic wrap and the lid and freeze it for several weeks until you're ready to serve it. Or you can serve it immediately.

Date Pudding

Warm date cake is delicious when served with vanilla ice cream. Or you can cut up the cooled cake and mix it with Cool Whip or whipped heavy cream to make date pudding.

To make date pudding:

• Cut the cooled cake into little pieces and mix it with 2 - 3 tubs of thawed Cool Whip. Or substitute the Cool Whip with sweetened whipped cream.
• Place into a large serving dish, cover, and refrigerate for at least an hour. Just before serving, drizzle caramel or butterscotch sauce over the top, if desired. 

Should I Use Cool Whip or Whipped Cream for Date Pudding?

We always made Amish date pudding with Cool Whip, but now I very seldom buy Cool Whip.

Whipped cream is so easy to make. Simply buy a big carton of heavy whipping cream. Pour the cold cream into a mixing bowl. Add vanilla and sugar (to taste), and beat it at medium-high speed until it starts to thicken.

Then continue to beat at high speed until soft peaks form. Don't walk away and let this beat too long though, because eventually, you will be making butter ;).

Whipped cream is a lot healthier than Cool Whip. It's the real cream from the cow, while Cool Whip is an artificial man-made substance.

And, of course, whipped cream tastes so much better than Cool Whip. I used to like Cool Whip and could eat it by the spoonfuls. But since I started using real cream, I will never go back.

Lightly sweetened whipped cream is the real deal, and we eat way too much of it at our house. It's so good on top of pancakes, waffles, french toast, etc. You get the point! I love the stuff!

So I recommend making date pudding with whipped cream, but I know that some of you won't feel like bothering, so go ahead and make it with Cool Whip. It's good either way.

And honestly, if you use whipped cream, don't mix more of the cake with the cream than what you think you'll get to eat in a day or two. It will be better when freshly mixed, as homemade whipped cream is not stabilized like Cool Whip.

Old-Fashioned Date Pudding Recipe

Date and Nut Pudding was one of my father-in-law's favorite Christmas desserts. Unfortunately, I didn't get to spend too much time with him, since he passed away only about a year and a half after we got married. But he loved this date dessert.

My mom-in-law, however, made her date and walnut pudding by layering date cake with homemade butterscotch pudding and cool whip. It is amazing, and I started making it like that sometimes too.

The pudding adds an extra flavor and creaminess that takes this date pudding to a new level. But it is easier to bake the date and nut cake and just mix it with Cool Whip. It's such a fast and easy make-ahead Christmas dessert.

Amish Christmas Food

I published a post about what Christmas was like for me as an Amish child, and (I shared some about our Amish Christmas traditions.)

The Amish don't put up a Christmas tree, but they sure are not conservative when it comes to making good food for Christmas. Every year, we baked hundreds of cookies such as monster cookies, sand tart cookies, mint surprise cookies, etc.

We made lots of homemade candies such as crispy chocolate peanut butter balls, homemade caramels, and truffles. And we had a big assortment of delicious food for our Christmas dinner.

Amish roasht (chicken or turkey and dressing) is a traditional wedding and holiday dish for the Lancaster County Amish. So we had this at every Christmas dinner, that I can remember, with my Amish family.

And we always had mashed potatoes, buttered noodles, vegetables, coleslaw, etc. Another side dish we always had was Christmas salad (also known as Ribbon Salad).

And, of course, there was a variety of different desserts, like pecan pie, cookies, homemade vanilla cornstarch pudding, fruit salad, and this date and walnut pudding.

There was so much good food, and I'm sure we all ate more than we should have. But that's typically what happens over the holidays, right? Then we diet after New Year's Day.