Chocolate Chip Cake

This cake ranks high on my list of happy childhood food memories.  My mom baked a lot of cakes, but when she made this special one, company was surely coming for dinner.   This no ordinary cake out of a box.  Quite the contrary...it is magic.  It is flour, sugar, butter and eggs transformed into the best possible versions of themselves. 

It's especially delicious just moments out of the oven.  The warm, moist cake can hardly hold up its decadent topping, which triumphs gracefully over any thought of gooey, limpid frosting.

When I married, Chocolate Chip Cake was one of the first recipes I requested from my mother.  I was stunned to learn that it has dates in it!  You boil water, then soak the dates before adding to the cake batter.  Back in my twenties, that seemed an impossible gourmet step.  I was all about packaged food, renting Blockbuster videos, and playing rummy with my Hubby for hours.  Soaking dates didn't suit my go-go lifestyle.  Appreciating old-fashioned goodness wasn't high on the list.  Going the extra mile was the road less traveled, and I didn't care about that road.

Fast forward twelve years:  I'd become a more accomplished cook, and finally had a hankering for that good ol' chocolate chip cake.  So I hunted down the dates at the grocer and finally made the cake.  Turns out, that extra step is no big deal.  And I've been making it ever since.

Recipes from my mother have taken on even more meaning now that she's gone.  Two years ago, end of March, she lost her battle with cancer.  While I'm confident I'll see her again one day, it helps for now to cook her best recipes.  I hope to pass my favorites on to my own daughter, who gives this cake a perfect 10!  Kiddo is turning eight soon, but at the rate her childhood is flying by, she'll be making her own cakes in her own kitchen any minute now.

Chocolate Chip Cake

from my mother, Kathie Hoekstra

Date Mixture

1.  Mix and cool:

• 1 Cup of Dates, chopped up
• 1 1/2 Cups of Boiling Water

Wet Mixture

2.  Beat together:

• 3/4 Cup of Butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 Cup of Sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 1 Tsp. Vanilla

Dry Mixture

3.  Sift together:

• 1 1/2 Cups Flour
• 1 Tsp. Baking Soda
• 1 Tsp. Salt

4.  Add Date Mixture and Dry Mixture alternately to Wet Mixture, stirring well to combine.

5.  Pour into a greased 13"x9" baking pan. 

6.  Mix together and sprinkle on top of batter:

• 1/2 package Chocolate Chips (6 oz.)
• 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Nuts, chopped  (pecans or walnuts work best)

7.  Bake 35 - 40 minutes at 350 degrees. 

Optional:  Top with freshly whipped cream