Oil-free/Butter-less Whole wheat Date Orange Cake with no added sugar
Life's been busy. Busy is good.
There was a time in my life (almost 10 years back) when I literally had almost nothing to do all day. It was just the two of us. We were here in the States away from friends and family and I was not working. I did not know anyone. I did not cook much. I baked a little. It took me less than an hour to be done with my daily chores. It was around that time that my interest in photography grew. I would spend hours looking at photos and figuring out Picasa (Google's Photo Editor).
It is a whole different story now. My 6.5 yo has filled up my days. When I am not occupied with him or running errands, I have my blog to work upon.
Coming to the recipe, I love coming up with variations of my date cake. This time I skipped sugar and butter/oil completely and added orange juice and orange zest. It was moist and super flavorful!
Since I had company over, I drizzled some chocolate ganache on the cake and served it with tea.
- Whole-wheat flour - 1 1/2 Cup
- Dates - 25, pitted
- Milk - 1 1/2 Cup
- Applesauce - 3 tbsp (recipe here) (or you can use 3 tbsp oil)
- Egg - 1 large, at room temperature
- Cinnamon Powder - 1/2 tsp
- Salt - 1/2 tsp
- Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice - 1/3 Cup
- Orange Zest - of a whole orange
- Baking Soda - 1 1/2 tsp
In a bowl, soak the dates in the milk and leave it in the fridge overnight.
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a bundt pan or a regular round pan with butter and dust it with flour. Shake off the excess flour and set aside.
In another bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, salt and baking soda and set aside.
Crack one egg into a separate bowl and whisk it well. Set it aside.
Using a blender or a food processor, puree the date-milk mix . Pour it into a bowl. To it, mix in the apple sauce (or oil) and orange juice. Carefully mix in the whisked egg.
Now slowly add the dry ingredients, one-fourth cup at a time. Using a fork or a spatula fold in slowly and be careful not to over-mix.
Let the batter hang out for 20 minutes.
Pour the batter into the greased pan, and bake for about 30 to 35 minutes till done (baking time will differ). Insert a toothpick in the middle of the cake and if it comes out clean, it is good to go. Mine was done at the 32 minute mark.
Cool down completely before serving. Slice and serve. Drizzle some ganache if you wish.
Store leftovers in an airtight container.
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