Preheat the oven to 350F. Liberally brush a 10-cup bundt pan with cake goop or grease it well with butter and coat with flour.
Bring the milk up to a boil and pour over the chopped dates. Submerge the dates and let them soak for 10-15 minutes to soften. Mush them up with a muddler or in a blender.
7 oz medjool dates, chopped, 1 ¼ cup whole milk
In a large bowl, beat together the butter, oil and sugar for 2-3 minutes or until light and airy.
½ cup unsalted butter, softened, ¼ cup neutral oil, ½ cup + 1 tablespoon white granulated sugar
Add in the eggs and beat for a minute.
3 large eggs
Mix in the date mixture, sour cream and vanilla extract.
½ cup sour cream, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Combine the flour, milk powder, salt, baking powder and ground cardamom in a separate small bowl.
1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 ¾ teaspoon baking powder, ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom, ¼ cup whole milk powder, packed
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and fold with a spatula until all combined. Don't overmix - stop when there are no more streaks of flour left.
Evenly pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan and bang on the counter once or twice to remove large air bubbles.
Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
While the cake is baking, make the syrup.
Combine the water, sugar, cardamom, saffron and lemon juice to a saucepan, over medium high heat.
1 cup water, 1 cup white granulated sugar, 5 cardamom pods, a pinch of saffron
Bring to a boil and cook for 5-8 minutes, until the syrup thickens up.
Remove from the heat and add in the rosewater. Set aside 3-4 tablespoon of the syrup for the glaze.
½ teaspoon rosewater
Pour the syrup onto the cake while its still in the pan. Let it sit until absorbed.
Mix the rest of the syrup with the powdered sugar to make a smooth glaze.
1 cup powdered sugar, 3-4 tablespoon of the sugar syrup
Turn over the cake onto your serving plate.
Pour the glaze onto the cake. Top with some crushed pistachios and dried rose petals. Serve and enjoy!
