Date Cake - Eggless and Awesome

I have a confession. I had no idea that cake can be made with dates before I stumbled upon Bong Mom's Cookbook's Date cake recipe. And what an amazing discovery it was! I have made this cake so many times that I have lost count. I raved about it so much that my Mom-in-law and couple of my friends got inspired to make it and they loved it too. The best part is that you can make so many different versions of it just by throwing in a little something extra. I have added bananas, I have added nuts, I have drizzled caramel sauce on it, I have added orange zest (sometimes juice) to it, I have dunked it in chocolate ganache and the list goes on. This is an amazing recipe for those who are allergic to eggs or are strictly vegetarian.

I have tweaked the original recipe a wee little bit. This is what I used.

Ingredients

• Dates - 25,   I used pitted, each about an inch long
• Flour - 1 Cup
• Milk - 1 Cup
• Sugar - 1/4 Cup
• Baking Soda - 1 tsp
• Oil - 1/4 Cup
• Butter for greasing the pan - I used a 9 inch round.

I microwaved the milk for a minute and soaked the dates in it. Once it cooled down, I stuck it in the fridge and left it overnight.  Next day, I preheated the oven to 180C (350F), Then blended the dates-milk mixture and sugar till smooth. (This mixture tastes awesome too, btw!) To this I added the oil and the flour & baking soda mix (I had sifted these together and kept aside) and used a hand mixer to make a smooth batter . Poured the batter into the prepped pan and baked it for about 25-30 minutes (time may vary a bit).

Love it with my cup of tea!

Note: I always prep my cake pans by greasing first with butter and then dusting it with flour.