Old-Fashioned Strawberry Soda -- Wait, wrong season: the mulled cider that made me feel like we had figured it out

Halloween week. I worked the overnight on Friday and came home Saturday morning to find Sean had already started on the costume. He'd decided Liam was going to be a pumpkin—not because Sean is particularly invested in Halloween aesthetics but because Liam had spent the last two weeks eating pumpkin puree with what Sean called "pumpkin energy" and so pumpkin it was. He'd found a costume at the Halloween store: orange bodysuit, green stem hat. He put it on Liam while I was eating breakfast and Liam looked down at himself and then up at Sean with the expression of someone who has accepted a situation they didn't choose.

We took him trick-or-treating for exactly forty-five minutes, which is the right amount. Our block was the usual Southie Halloween—real candy, real kids, our neighbor Pat from the second floor dressed as a pirate for the fourth consecutive year because he found one costume that worked and has committed to it. Liam was carried the whole time and received candy he couldn't eat on behalf of his parents, who ate it.

I made a big pot of mulled cider on the stove Sunday night and the apartment smelled exactly like fall should smell and Sean put on a hockey game and Liam was asleep by seven and we sat on the couch and drank cider and I thought: we are good at this. We are good at being a family. I didn't know that in March when we brought him home. I know it now.

That pot of mulled cider was the whole evening—the smell of it, the sound of the game in the background, the particular quiet of Liam finally asleep. I wanted something to eat alongside it that felt just as unhurried and genuinely good, and this date cake is exactly that: dense and sweet and deeply autumnal in the way that felt right for that specific Sunday night. It’s the kind of thing you make not because you’re trying to impress anyone, but because the apartment already smells like fall and you might as well lean all the way into it.

Date Cake

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 45 min | Total Time: 1 hr 5 min | Servings: 12

Ingredients

• 1 cup pitted dates, chopped
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Instructions

1. Soak the dates. Place chopped dates in a bowl and pour boiling water over them. Stir in baking soda and let sit for 15 minutes until softened and the liquid has cooled slightly.
2. Preheat and prep. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan or a 9-inch round cake pan and set aside.
3. Cream butter and sugar. In a large bowl, beat softened butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
4. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla extract until combined.
5. Combine dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
6. Mix the batter. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in two additions, alternating with the date-and-water mixture (including the soaking liquid), stirring gently until just combined. Fold in walnuts if using.
7. Bake. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 40—45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the top is deep golden brown.
8. Cool and serve. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before slicing. Serve warm, ideally alongside something hot to drink.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 245 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 10g | Carbs: 37g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 160mg