Dates and olive oil might not be the first ingredients you think of when you hear "cake".

They should be.

Dates bring natural sweetness and a soft, caramel-like richness, while extra virgin olive oil keeps the cake beautifully moist.

Then comes the pomegranate glaze.

Ingredients

For the cake

• 200g Rift Valley dates, pitted, chopped
• 150ml hot coffee
• 100ml olive oil
• 1 egg
• 130g brown sugar
• 80g greek yogurt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 250g flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp ground cardamom
• 1 tsp of salt
• 1 tbsp tahini

For the glaze

• 100g icing sugar
• 1 pomegranate (seeds only)
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

Method

Preheat your oven to 180°C.

Soak the dates in coffee and baking soda for around 15 minutes.

Whisk together the olive oil, eggs, sugar, yogurt and vanilla.

Add the dates and mix.

Fold in the flour, baking powder, cardamom and salt.

Pour into an oiled cake tin with tahini and bake for approximately 45-50 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool.

For the glaze, mix the lemon juice with the icing sugar and put most of the remaining pomegranate seeds (reserve some to decorate) in a bowl with 1 tbsp water; mash with a fork to create a thick but pourable glaze.

Drizzle over the cooled cake.

Finish with remaining pomegranate seeds.