Preheat your oven to 350°F; Grease a 9” square baking pan with ghee or coconut oil and line with parchment paper leaving a bit of an overhang on either side for easy unmolding.
Add date paste and ghee to a large mixing bowl and mix on high speed with a hand mixer (you could also use your stand mixer if you have one) until well combined and creamy.
Add eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition, until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add rum (or water), maple syrup and vanilla extract and resume beating on medium speed until well combined. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients together with a whisk until perfectly well combined. Although not absolutely necessary, I strongly recommend sifting the dry ingredients together. Not only will this insure that you catch any potential lumps and debris, but it will also help in distributing the ingredients evenly and make your cake lighter and fluffier.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until just incorporated, no more.
Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and spread all the way to the sides as evenly as possible.
Bake in the oven for 35 minutes.
When the cake is almost done, add the coconut, pecans, ghee, maple syrup and honey to a large skillet set over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly, then continue cooking for about a minute and kill the heat.
Remove the cake from the oven, pour the coconut mixture over the cake, spread delicately and put the cake back in the oven for another 5-6 minutes, until the coconut garnish turns golden.
Remove the cake from the oven and let cool completely on a cooling rack.