Date and walnut cake

I know cakes dont quite calssify as Gujju food, or even Indian food for that matter, but I must post these once in a while because cakes are about the only things I make with confidence! And eggless cakes are a Gujju inspired realm of baking for me, since eggs are taboo in my MIL’s kitchen. So an eggless date and walnut cake recipe…

I’ve been tinkering around with date and walnut recipes for a few years now, but hunted far and wide for an eggless version. I found this recipe on aayi’s recipes while surfing around, and typically it stayed in my bookmarked list for ages. Finally, the cake was tried for my husband’s grandad’s 90th birthday lunch.

The recipe here is is a mish mash of two versions I tried, the first attempting to mix in bananas and rum along with the dates, and the second attempting to make to healthier. The recipe reproduced below should enable you to make either, or both.

The Ingredients:
Deseeded dates – 18 OR 9 dates and 1 medium mashed banana
Milk/ Rum – 3/4 cup
Sugar – 1/2 cup Oil – 1/3 cup
Whole wheat flour – 1 cup Vinegar – 1tsp
Baking Soda – 1 tsp
Walnut – 1/2 cup, chopped

Soak dates in warm milk/ rum, and then blend it. I like to leave a few lumps in. If using, bananas add and blend it together now.

Add sugar and oil and mix. Sugar granules should ideally dissolve away. Add vinegar and mix.

Sift together flour and soda. Add to date mixture and mix by hand till blended.

Preheat oven to 180C and butter/ line a 9×5 loaf pan. Pour in the batter and bake for 35-40 mins, or till toothpick poked in comes out clean.

Wait till it cools completely before cutting. Tastes better the next day.