A year and a half ago, when we moved to Canberra I made these as my first ever cupcakes and took them to a house party. Half of me did it to make friends, but the other semi-competitive part of me wanted to cement my reputation as the baker in the group. It wasn’t long before people started referring to me as Cupcake Girl – kind of like a food-possessed power ranger.
These have been the most popular use of my cupcake powers by a mile. Not even the peanut butter and chocolate cupcakes beat these ones. I think there’s a little kid inside all of us that these speak to when there’s caramel sauce dripping from your fingers.
For those times when you need to impress, whether it’s high tea or an indulgent dessert – these are just the thing.
They’re very easy, and suit even novice bakers. Don’t be alarmed if your cupcakes look lighter than those in the picture – when you brush them with the caramel sauce, they turn that decadent dark brown colour.
- 200g dates, pitted
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 125ml boiling water
- 125g butter
- 125g brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 125g self-raising flour
- 100g dark brown sugar
- 125ml cream
- 25g butter
- dash of vanilla essence
- 125g cream cheese, at room temperature
- 180ml whipping or thickened cream
- 3 tbsp icing sugar
- 3 tbsp caramel sauce (above)
- Preheat oven to 190C.
- Place the dates in a food processor, and pulse until finely chopped. You could cut them up by hand, but it might take a while (and is a pain because they're so sticky).
- Put the chopped dates in a bowl with the baking soda. Pour over the boiling water, stir and let stand for 5 minutes.
- In a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until light and fluffy. Stir in the flour, then the date mixture.
- Line a cupcake pan with 12 cupcake liners, then fill to ⅔ full using an ice cream scoop - this helps ensure that there is an even amount in each liner. In my experience, this batter divides evenly between 12 liners. These rise a lot, so don't overfill, or you'll end up with a overflowing mess - I often bake a test cupcake on it's own when I'm using a new recipe.
- Bake for 15 minutes, or until cooked through - test with a skewer to check if cooked.
- While the cupcakes are cooking, sauce by melting all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat.
- When the cupcakes are done, remove from the oven and poke about seven holes in each using a chopstick. Pour a tablespoon of sauce over each cupcakes, making sure to use a brush to coat the top of the whole cupcake.
- While the cupcakes are cooling, make the icing. In a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment beat the cream cheese until smooth and there are no visible lumps. Switch to the whisk attachment and add the cream, sugar and caramel sauce and whisk to stiff peaks.
- When cupcakes are cool, pipe the icing onto the cupcakes using a 1M icing tip, then drizzle with the leftover caramel sauce.
Mmm! Dates are awesome as they give such a lovely toffee taste to things and if you also add caramel to the mix…I will HAVE to try this
I have a terrible confession to make. I don’t like caramel… but I promise these are awesome (or so my friends tell me!)
Hi Tash. Thanks for the recipe! I just made these and while the cupcake itself is delicious, the the icing on the other hand… Something went wrong and I’m hoping you can help! It was terribly runny. Thinking perhaps I’d done something wrong, I made it twice. The second time I reduced the amount of cream, in case that was the issue, however the result was the same. It was far too runny to pipe – even after trying to set in the freezer. Any thoughts on why this is happening and has it happened to you before? Thanks! Elisa
Hi Elisa, Did you switch to the whisk attachment after adding the cream? This allows you to whip air into the mixture making it more stable. Let me know how you go.
Hi Tash! I emailed you about these cupcakes earlier 🙂 They turned out fantastic!! Had so many compliments on these. I made sure to tell everyone where i got the recipe from 🙂 Can’t wait to try more of your recipes soon x
I made these last night and although the cupcake is delicious I had the exact same problem as Elisa, my icing was far too runny. It got to a point where I whipped it til it curdled! I then went down to the dairy after a few hours of frustration, grabbed some cream and made another batch of butterscotch sauce then whipped that with icing sugar to make a new icing I found on another recipe but that was gross far too sweet! I ended up leaving these icing-less and everyone at work still enjoyed them. I am determined to figure out why the icing didn’t work as I am a huge sticky date fan and although I ruined the icing I did try it before it curdled and it would have complimented the sweet cupcake beautifully. Any tips would be appreciated 🙂
There’s two things I can think of – first, I went to the UK last year and realised that they have single cream, which does not whip up (that may have been Elisa’s problem). In Australia, we pretty much use whipping or thickened cream – they’ll both work for this recipe – though I will make sure to edit the recipe to say this.
To be honest, it may even just be the temperature. What cream did you use? Perhaps after switching to the paddle, start adding the cream bit by bit and stop when you’re at the consistency you desire – you can get a really good consistency at 90mls, though I tend to use the full 180mls because I like lighter icing. Err on the side of underwhipping to avoid curdling.
I’ll definitely try to re-test this one again when I get a chance, though might take me a while seeing as dairy in Colombo is pretty limited (and my KitchenAid has yet to arrive!) If two people have had a problem with the recipe, I clearly need to be clearer, so I don’t think you ruined the icing – I’ll need to improve my instructions and make the recipe clearer.
Interestiing… I am from New Zealand and I just had a wee google and you are right – it is all to do with the wording. I have mistaken your wording ‘whipping cream’ and bought regular cream (in other terms, light/single/runny cream) and tried to add this to the cream cheese as to me that is whipping cream. Taking another look at the recipe I can see you have stated to add thickened cream to the cream cheese, which I can imagine would actually form stiff peaks! I guess as I am so used to using runny cream in the butterscotch sauce I just figured it was the same for the icing – my mistake. I will definitely try this again now that I know to use thickened cream.
Let me know how you go! I’m pretty sure we don’t get single cream in Australia at all – if we do, I certainly have never seen it. If you’re on a hunt for icing recipes, try italian or swiss meringue buttercream rather than traditional american buttercream. I’ll be posting a peanut butter swiss meringue recipe soon (once I find my hard drive amongst all my luggage!)
Love this recipe! Have made them at least half a dozen times. The cake is good but the frosting is stunning.
That style of frosting works great with anything else too – cream cheese + melted, cooled chocolate, or peanut butter for instance.
I’ve always loved the cream cheese frosting on carrot cakes, but this is a little different to that and lighter. The caramel works so well with that slightly sour tang. Now I’m torn, I’ve just got into using a Swiss meringue frosting (not the buttercream meringue). I might have to try some other flavours of cream cheese frosting. Thanks for the thought.
Tash,
Can this recipe be doubled or should I prepare in single batches?
Thank you!
It’s very easily doubled – I normally double it by default, they get eaten so quick!
Hi Tash,
I have made this recipe so many times (everyone loves it), but I NEVER get the icing to work. It always ends up with a slightly runny consistency that doesn’t hold its shape very well when piped (my taste testers don’t seam to mind but it is driving my inner perfectionist to tears). I assume the problem has something to do with the cream (i’ve tried using less thickened cream, less caramel, more icing sugar, whipping the cream first and folding it through etc… but it always turns out the same). Any ideas for how i can make the icing have a firmer consistency? I like the cream/cream cheese combination, so don’t want to completely revert to a cream cheese icing recipe.
Kind regards, Cait
Hi Caitlyn, Is it really warm where you are? You might need to tweak the recipe a bit just to adjust for some variables i.e. the consistency of your caramel sauce, the cream you are using, the temperature (if it’s really hot where you are). Assuming you’re using a Kitchenaid, I’d start by mixing the cream cheese with the paddle until completely smooth and pliable. Switch to a wire whip, add COLD caramel sauce (it’ll be thicker and less likely to melt your icing that way) then add the cream two tablespoons at a time until you get to the consistency you’re after. From this point, the icing will become runnier as it heats up, so only when you’re comfortable with the consistency, add the icing sugar which will help thicken it up a bit. Let me know if any issues, and feel free to email me photos of your process to help me diagnose the issue 🙂 Cheers, Tash
Hi there! Is it okay to use dried dates? Or fresh dates? Thanks!
Great question – dried dates for this recipe. In Australia, they’re also sold as pitted dates. I don’t think I’ve ever had access to fresh dates!
Hi Tash, Could this be baked as a cake instead of cupcakes- what size do you suspect it would make? Thanks!
It definitely can be baked as a cake – though I’m not exactly sure what size. My best guess is 8×8″ square or 9″round (approx 23cm). Hope that helps! Sticky date pudding isn’t as high as traditional cake though, so just be prepared for that. You can always make two and stack them, but I find this so rich I’ve never needed to!
Can I make these the night before an event? Will the texture or favour change over night or will it become soggy?
Can I make the cupcakes and leave them overnight for a next day event? Will they go soggy or ruin the texture/flavour at all?
Hi Vanessa, they’ll be completely fine baked the night before – just store in an airtight container if you can. I’d recommend only icing them on the day of the event as the icing is dairy based, and should be kept cool.
The drizzle over the top is the most time sensitive as the drizzles will start to drip more over time – leave that to as late as you can to finish off. Send through any more questions as you think of them!
Hi,
Do I need to sift the flour?
Thanks.
I almost never sift flour, but the quality of flour where I am is very good – it’s usually finely milled without impurities. I never sifted flour in Malaysia either, really…