It is unclear whether I add the calvados to the batter or discard it.

I soaked my dates in Stone's Ginger Wine. The dates soaked up most of the liquid. I dumped everything into the batter and my cake was delicious!

Hope Veronica weighs in. That recipe is a riot! How many times does she warn us that the cake is ugly?! Anyway, it sound like she's planning on the dates slurping up pretty much all the Calvados, so unless they're really soupy, I'd go ahead and dump it all in. Hope you're having a glass on the side.

Good Calvados flavored with figs....I would sip it slowly and smile

Usually when you "plump" fruit you discard the plumping liquid, which is what I would do in the this case