Vegan cake made with dates and walnuts!
A few weeks before my birthday, Gee asked me to help her bake a cake. She's only ever baked two cakes in her whole life - Banana Bread and one plain Vanilla, but both a long time ago. And both of those in my house. This time, she wanted to bake one in her house to test out her oven. I was all confident telling her what to buy and how much to buy, until I landed up in her house and realized, that the last cake I baked, not muffins or cheesecakes, but a loaf cake was actually 2 years ago!!!
As a cook, it is never good to forget your skills, and here I was all lost and upset. So I decided I need to start baking more often. Lo and behold, this Date and Walnut Cake. I made it multiple times since I first did to just brush up my baking skills and dust out my recipes. And I can say with conviction, that I have loved it each time that I baked it. It has been a little difficult however, to stop sneaking in a piece - for me and for Raj. He'll even wipe out the crumbs (so will I !!). This cake is uber moist and slightly dense. It is rich and gooey to eat and when you find those little bits of walnuts and dates, it makes the bite, that much more special. I love the walnuts in the cake!!
If you like light airy cakes, then this may not fit the bill.
The lucky recipients of my trials have been our friends. Lots of free cake going around from this household.
Date and Walnut has always been a family favorite, only this time, I made it Vegan. It wasn't that I was looking for a vegan recipe, but this one just worked so perfect that I don't think I'll ever want to add dairy and change it. The cake uses Coconut Oil as the fat component, and I tell you, it tastes delicious. It imparts a slightly coconutty taste to the cake, that makes it so much more exotic in flavor. If you aren't such a coconut fan, use any neutral flavored oil like canola or sunflower. To enhance the coconut flavor (cause I'm a big coconut lover), I used coconut milk. Feel free to use almond or soy milk. If you have none, use water, however it may make the cake feel less rich in taste.
There are three sweeteners in here - Dates, Jaggery and Sugar.
- Dates - Use the best quality you can. The flavor does come through and you want it to be good. I usually buy dates with seed and deseed them while using. The dates are cooked along with jaggery and water until soft and then blended to a puree. This adds sweetness as well as flavor to the cake.
- Jaggery - Jaggery is unrefined cane sugar. With refined sugar off the list for many of us these day, jaggery is the perfect replacement. You can use palm sugar or coconut sugar or brown sugar if you cannot find jaggery. If you do have access to jaggery, buy the darkest, that is the least refined and has the best flavor profile. Sometimes, it even tastes like chocolate.
- Sugar - I used half a cup of jaggery, and later added refined sugar, because the cake wasn't sweet enough. To avoid using refined sugar, just increase the quantity of jaggery to 1 cup or use powdered sifted jaggery powder later if the sweetness is less. You could also replace all of the jaggery with powdered sugar.
I have used all purpose flour or maida in the cake. I generally opt for whole wheat, however, I did not want this cake to be any heavier than it already was with all the vegan liquid ingredients. I suggest, if you are looking to use whole wheat, keep it at 50% and the remaining 50%, use all purpose flour.
The best part of the cake is the walnuts. Be generous. However, let me warn you that the cake gets a little difficult to slice when those walnut bits come in the way and you may not get the perfect slice. But don't let that stop you from baking the cake. Your family won't mind the large chunky slices, I assure you.cThe cake is soft and moist, so only slice it once it has cooled completely. Slicing it when hot will lead to it breaking into chunks around the walnuts.
Serve it warm with tea/coffee.
If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family!
Video Recipe
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Vegan Date and Walnut Cake Recipe
Vegan loaf cake made with dates and walnuts. Eggless and dairy free cake.Recipe Type: Dessert
Cuisine: Indian
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 50 minutes
Total time: 70 minutes
Yield: Makes one 9 inch loaf
Ingredients:
30 Dates
10 Walnuts
2 cups Flour
200 ml Coconut Milk
0.5 Coconut Oil
0.5 cup powdered Jaggery
4 Tbsp powdered Sugar
1 tsp Baking Powder
0.5 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Vanilla Extract or Essence
Pinch of salt
0.5 cup Water
Method:
1. Boil together 20 chopped dates, water and the jaggery until the dates are soft or 5-6 minutes. If you want to make a refined sugar free cake, increase the quantity of jaggery to 1 cup.
2. Allow the mixture to cool, and then blend to a smooth puree. Add water if required.
3. Mix together the coconut oil and half the coconut milk until combined.
4. Add in the date puree and mix well.
5. Add the vanilla extract and mix well.
6. Sift in the flour, baking powder and baking soda. You can add a pinch of salt if you want.
7. Mix until combined. Use the remaining coconut milk to loosen the batter if it is very dry.
8. If the cake batter isn't sweet enough, add the powdered sugar until you get the desired sweetness.
9. Mix in chopped walnuts and the remaining dates.
10. Grease a cake tin (9") and line with parchment paper or butter paper.
11. Pour in the batter.
12. Bake for 35-40 minutes at 200 degree C or until done. An inserted toothpick or knife should come out clean.
13. Demould after 4-5 minutes.
14. Allow to cool before slicing.
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