* Date & Walnut Eggless Cake

                    Since long I have been thinking of making a vegetarian cake,reason being my parent in-laws who are pure  vegetarian. I love to bake,but it is disheartening when  they  can't have  all the goodies that I love to make, so I have  been thinking on it since long. The  other day  I went to grocery  store alone(usually  me and  shaan  go together) and as usual my temptation to buy the whole store tickled me.I love grocery shopping as much as I love shoes shopping :) I bought a  whole bunch of dry fruits 4 founds of each. There was a big packet of  walnuts, for  which  he was after  me-'why you bought  such a big packet,it may get spoiled if you don't finish soon'. Before I opened the  walnut packet I bought another  date packet.
As soon as I reach  home in evening after work I start to munch on something... be it dry fruits or fresh fruits(whatever comes in front  of my eyes).The  other day I ate some dates and walnuts together and  liked it and then googled for  recipes.. I came across  many and tried to tweak  a  few and the  end result was just to die  for . I  was really skeptical about the cake(I was thinking how  will the  cake rise  and  get the  fluffy texture without  eggs), until I  flipped the  cake to the serving plate and oh,,it was  so moist and fluffy too. It was FIFA  finals day and  our friends  were  coming over for the game and  my new  experiment of vegan  cake was quality tested and recommended. Now I can't wait to go to  India  and make this  cake  for my  in-laws, hence this post is dedicated to my loving parent -in -laws.


Here  goes the recipe:

Ingredients:

1. All Purpose Flour : 2.5 cups
2. Pitted dates : 20-25 numbers
3. Sweetened Condensed Milk : 300 ml
4. Melted butter : 1/3 cup -1/4  cup
5. Honey : 1 tb sp (optional)
6.Baking powder :  1 1/4 tsp\
7. Baking Soda :  1/2  tsp
8. Milk : 1 cup + if  required  to thin the  cake  batter

Procedure:

1. Pre-heat  the oven to 350 degree F.
2. Soak  the date in hot milk for  20 mins and to make a puree blend it in a  blender adding  as little as milk needed.Keep thee rest of the milk for  later use.

                                                                                               (Click on the  picture to enlarge)

3. Sieve the  Flour,baking powder,baking soda  and  keep it aside.
4. In a deep bowl pour sweetened  condensed milk and  melted butter  and beat with a  hand blender(or
   manual beater) for  about 7-8 minutes.The texture should be as  shown in pictures.

                                                                                                                  (Click on the picture to enlarge)

5. While adding rest of the ingredients don't beat it vigourously just mix well with a spatula.
6. Add the date puree ,give it a mix.
7. Add flour,baking powder,baking soda mixture to the  batter  slowly incorporating  the flour into  the 
   batter. If you feel the batter is too hard then add some milk.The consistency should be as shown in the  picture.
8. Now coat the chopped walnuts in some  flour and  fold into the batter.
9. Pour the batter in to a greased and floured  baking dish and  slide into the oven for  40 minutes at 350
    degree F.As each oven works differently , test it by inserting a  knife time to time, take the cake  out  as
    soon   as  knife  comes out clean.
10. Cool the cake  for  about 15 minutes  before you serve. It tastes best warm and  it can be stored  in
    refrigerator  for  about 2 weeks and can  be microwaved for 15 seconds and  can be  enjoyed at a later
     time.

          Thanks for  stopping by  and  enjoy this moist   vegetarian  cake  and I  would be more than  happy to hear from you.

                                                                                                               (Click on the picture to enlarge)