diff --git a/esphome/components/template/datetime/__init__.py b/esphome/components/template/datetime/__init__.py
index 034be9b3b..16f341301 100644
--- a/esphome/components/template/datetime/__init__.py
+++ b/esphome/components/template/datetime/__init__.py
@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@ from esphome.const import (
     CONF_OPTIMISTIC,
     CONF_RESTORE_VALUE,
     CONF_SET_ACTION,
+    CONF_DAY,
+    CONF_MONTH,
+    CONF_YEAR,
 )
 
 from esphome.core import coroutine_with_priority
@@ -82,7 +85,13 @@ async def to_code(config):
         cg.add(var.set_restore_value(config[CONF_RESTORE_VALUE]))
 
         if initial_value := config.get(CONF_INITIAL_VALUE):
-            cg.add(var.set_initial_value(initial_value))
+            date_struct = cg.StructInitializer(
+                cg.ESPTime,
+                ("day_of_month", initial_value[CONF_DAY]),
+                ("month", initial_value[CONF_MONTH]),
+                ("year", initial_value[CONF_YEAR]),
+            )
+            cg.add(var.set_initial_value(date_struct))
 
     if CONF_SET_ACTION in config:
         await automation.build_automation(
diff --git a/esphome/components/web_server/web_server.cpp b/esphome/components/web_server/web_server.cpp
index 4e6797ae1..6c3e4e5ee 100644
--- a/esphome/components/web_server/web_server.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/web_server/web_server.cpp
@@ -914,7 +914,7 @@ void WebServer::handle_date_request(AsyncWebServerRequest *request, const UrlMat
 std::string WebServer::date_json(datetime::DateEntity *obj, JsonDetail start_config) {
   return json::build_json([obj, start_config](JsonObject root) {
     set_json_id(root, obj, "date-" + obj->get_object_id(), start_config);
-    std::string value = str_sprintf("%d-%d-%d", obj->year, obj->month, obj->day);
+    std::string value = str_sprintf("%d-%02d-%02d", obj->year, obj->month, obj->day);
     root["value"] = value;
     root["state"] = value;
   });