Eggless Date Walnut Cake

Who can forget Shilpa's Date Cake, that spread like wild fever in her Aunt's circle! Well, it is tough to resist such a well tried and tested recipe, and I'm all for simple recipes...

I made a few substitutions in the original - increasing milk to one cup and oil to 1/4 cup, plus using whole wheat flour (atta) - and the result was a very soft cake. I guess the date puree itself gives a soft texture, for the same reason as applesauce.

Also I used organic jaggery instead of sugar, pureeing it with the soaked dates. Next time, I will lessen the jaggery used - as the dates provided enough sweetness as it is.

I also topped the entire cake with shredded coconut and plenty of walnuts, adding some chopped walnuts to the batter. The taste of the walnuts cut through the sweetness of the dates, and the smelling of toasting coconut shreds while the cake was baking was pretty heavenly.

This is a kind of cake you can send in your kid's lunch box as a snack. The dates and jaggery make it an iron rich, high-energy snack.

Do check out the original recipe at Aayi's Recipes and I'm sure the fever will continue to spread!