Among the several delicious cakes that my mother bakes, a special treat is her egg-less date and raisin cake that she makes on special occasions.

Date and Raisin Cake

Time taken: 1 ½ hours + 3 hours (for marinating the dried fruits)

Serves 8 – 10

Ingredients:

• Dates – 1½ cup (when chopped) or 300 g (before chopping)
• Raisins – ½ cup (100 g)
• Wheat flour – 2 cups
• Semolina – ½ cup
• Low fat vegetable oil margarine (e.g. Flora) – 1 ½ cup (250 g)
• Brown sugar – 1 cup
• Condensed milk – 1 cup (vegans can use almond cream or cashew nut cream or coconut cream as a substitute)
• Vanilla essence – 2 tsp
• Mixed 3C spice powder (Cardamon, Cloves and Cinnamon) – 1 ½ tsp
• Sri Lankan Tea – 1/3 cup
• Baking powder – 2 tsp
• Baking soda – ¼ tsp + pinch (for marinating the dried fruits)

Method:

1. De-seed the dates and chop them. Place the chopped dates in a bowl, together with the raisins.
2. Add 1/3 cup of strong black tea, pinch of baking soda and the mixed 3C spice powder to the dates and raisins bowl. Cover and keep aside, for 2 – 3 hours, letting the dried fruits marinate in the tea and spice mix.
3. Whisk together the margarine and sugar, adding the condensed milk or vegan substitute. If whisking by hand, add the ingredients slowly while continuing to whisk. If using a blender, blend the three together for about 10 minutes.
4. Add the vanilla essence to the blend and mix.
5. Sift the flour, semolina together with the baking powder and soda.
6. Stir in the sifted flour and semolina gradually into the bowl of blended margarine, sugar and milk and mix.
7. Add the marinated dried fruits to the batter and fold.
8. Transfer the cake batter into a baking tray and bake in a pre-heated oven at 140⁰C/284⁰F for about 1 – 1 ¼ hours.
9. Remove from oven and let it cool, before slicing and serving with some hot Sri Lankan tea or coffee.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.