Date & Cashew cake

When I was a kid , Mom used to make everything possible in her might to make me drink my evening milk. She used to resort to emotional blackmail, loud screaming, feign ignorance to the fact that I hate the milk and also push that milk glass down my throat. Which kid would love to drink plain milk 4 times a day, that too when there was no sugar added to it, tell me!

Being the strong-willed woman that she is, she always got her way. But she adopted the best of her ways only after about 18 yrs, which we loved. She would make a different milkshake every evening for us(me and my younger brother), and that was something we loved. One of her fave recipes and ours too was the date milkshake. So the minute I saw this cake recipe, I was taken back to the time when we used to fight to finish off the milkshake, this time fondly. She used to soak the dates in milk the previous night and grind it to a paste and then mix it with a larger quantity of milk. This cake has a similar method to make the date mixture.

This weekend was just awesome in terms of the number of cakes baked in my oven. I baked this date cake continuously for three consecutive days, twice for friends and the last time for myself, each time altering the recipe a bit to suit my palate :)

The first time I baked this, I followed the recipe to the T, the second time, I reduced the oil by half and the third time, I baked this with whole wheat flour and with no oil. I got to taste this all three times, and this cake was splendid all the three times. There was a minor difference in texture each time, but something which I could live with.

This is the final recipe that I am going to follow from now for this cake. This recipe yields one 6’ round cake.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
18 dates, de-seeded and chopped
3/4 cup milk
10 cashews chopped into small pieces
1/6 cup oil(if required. Adds density to the cake, but is still perfect without it)

Procedure

Soak the dates in hot milk and boil it for 2-3 mins. When the dates soften, take the milk vessel off the stove and let it cool. Add the sugar to this mixture. After the milk cools, put this in the mixer and grind to a thick paste.

Grease the cake tin with butter and preheat the oven to 200C.

In a large mixing bowl, sieve the flour and baking soda together. Add the date mixture to this, and oil if you are adding it. Mix these two well and add the chopped cashews to this mixture. Pour this paste into the cake tin and  decorate with cashews on top. Bake for 30-40 mins at 200C or till the tester is clean.I bake this at 185C for 30 mins, and at 200C for another 10 mins but this might depend on the oven.

Let it cool and then share with friends. Enjoy!

Each time I baked this cake, I was in no position to take a photo of this one. Either I was giving it away to friends or we just started biting in almost immediately, but I shall put up a pic of this one soon! :)

Recipe Courtesy: Aayi’s Recipes