If anybody had told me that I would be baking a cake 5 years ago, I would have just laughed at them. I was such a novice that I did'nt even know what preheat meant leave alone baking a cake. Even though I have an oven at home, I did not dare to bake anything because I did know if the temperatures were mentioned in centigrade or Fahrenheit. Funny is'nt it? However, after reading so many eggless cake recipes and after doing a lot of research on ovens, I decided to go ahead and bake this cake.
Even after the batter was put into oven for baking, I was so nervous that I did not allow my little one in the kitchen. I kept peeking into the oven time and again. My joy knew no bounds when the aroma of the cake wafted from the oven. And my heart swelled with pride when I saw the cake rise. When I had to check if the cake was done, I inserted the tooth pick so deep into the cake that it broke. So much for my nervousness.
In the end, I managed to bake the cake. It came out so fantastic that the whole cake was over the same day. For a long time I couldn't believe that I had managed to bake a cake of my own. The recipe is actually from here. It is extremely simple. And the video tutorial gave me the much needed motivation. The Original recipe used walnuts. I have used almonds since I did not have walnuts on hand. I hope you enjoy baking this cake as much as I did.
Eggless dates and almond cake recipe:
Preparation time- 30mins+ Soaking time
Baking time- 35 to 40 mins
Ingredients:
Dates-20
Water- 1/4 cup
Almonds- 1/4 cup, blanched peeled and chopped.
condensed milk- 1 can/ 13/4 cup
Unsalted butter- 1stick/ 8tbspn
Baking soda- 11/2 tspn
Baking powder- 1tsp
All purpose flour or maida- 11/4 cup
Method:
- Soak dates in warm water for 1/2 an hour to soften
- Sift the maida, baking powder and baking soda to a bowl
- Grind the soaked dates to a fine paste by adding as little water as possible
- Melt the butter in a pan and add the butter to the maida, baking powder and baking soda mixture.
- Add the dates paste and condensed milk and mix well.
- Fold in the chopped almonds and mix again.
- Grease a baking pan and pour the batter in it.
- Bake in a pre- heated oven (180 centigrade) for 35-40 mins or till a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.
- Once done, take the cake out and allow it to stand for 5 mins before taking it out of the pan.