My mother makes scrumptious cakes. Some of my favourites are the basic butter cake and the chocolate cake. However, on this site, I will share a cake recipe or two of my mother’s that is both vegan and made with typically Sri Lankan ingredients.

Today’s recipe is that of my mother’s jaggery and coconut cake. The key ingredient here is the jaggery.

Jaggery and Coconut cake

Time taken: 1 hour

Makes 12 – 16 pieces if baked in a 6”x6” baking pan

Ingredients:

• Grated jaggery (palm or kithul) – 1 cup
• Water – 1 cup
• Low fat sunflower oil margarine (Flora, for e.g.) – ¾ cup (150g)
• Wheat flour – 1 cup
• Semolina – ¼ cup
• Roasted coconut – ¼ cup
• Coconut powder – 1 cup (100g)
• Cardamom – 4
• Vanilla essence – few drops
• Baking powder – 1 tsp
• Baking soda – ¼ tsp
• Cashew nuts – ½ cup, chopped or a little for sprinkling (optional)

Method:

1. Mix the wheat flour, semolina, baking powder and baking soda and keep aside.
2. Put the jaggery, margarine, water in a blender. Add the vanilla essence and crushed cardamom seeds. Blend for about a minute or two.
3. Then, add the coconut powder and roasted coconut to the mix in the blender and blend for another minute or two.
4. Pour the batter into a mixing bowl.
5. Stir in the flour mix gradually into the batter and mix well.
6. Add the chopped cashew nuts and mix.
7. Pour the batter into the baking pan and sprinkle some chopped cashew nuts on top.
8. Bake in a preheated oven at 140⁰C/ 284⁰F for around 40 – 45 minutes.
9. Serve with some Sri Lankan tea or fresh fruit juice.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.