Eggless Dates Cake

Dates Cake - This is the cake I baked for my Neha's 2nd birthday. This is the cake that was enjoyed by my SIL who never likes any other flavour other than chocolate when it comes to cakes and ice cream. And to top it all, my hubby liked it. He doesn't like cakes at all. Even in a party, he just takes a small piece unlike me where I will be gobbling :) To get a thumbs up from him means this is a winner recipe!!!
Some cakes are enjoyed by selected people only. For instance, Chocolate cakes are so special for chocolate lovers like me...But this cake is so special....It will be loved by everyone. In Our family ( where most of them enjoy different taste ) this is one of the dishes that is liked by all.
The buttery flavour and the richness that comes from milkmaid ,with just enough sweetness can win anyone's heart. The walnuts add little crunch and the date pieces tie all the different flavours together. Even without any icing you will be having a really hard time to stop you from grabbing the next piece.

Eggless Dates Cake Recipe

Soft, Rich and Moist Dates Cake with nice little crunch from Walnuts.
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 1 8 * 8 pan ( 16 squares )
Ingredients:
All Purpose Flour - 2 cups + for dusting the pan
Baking Powder - 1 tsp
Baking Soda - 2 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Butter - 3/4 cup ( room temperature )
Oil - 1/4 cup + for greasing
Milkmaid - 1 tin ( 400 g )
Powdered Sugar - 5 tbsp
Vanilla essence - 1 tbsp
Milk - 1 cup
Dates - 15 ( finely chopped )
Walnut - 1/3 cup
METHOD:
1) Preheat oven to 190 C for 10 minutes. Sieve flour, baking powder and baking soda and keep in a bowl. Add salt to it and mix well ( As my sieve is super fine, I don't sieve salt together with the rest of dry ingredients ) Keep this aside.
2) Add 1 tbsp flour to the chopped dates. Mix well and keep that aside. ( This ensures that the dates distributes evenly in the batter )  In a separate bowl take room temperature butter.
3) Beat the butter until light and creamy ( about a minute ). Then add the powdered sugar and beat until fluffy ( about 1 to 2 minutes ) Next add the condensed milk.
4) Add the oil and vanilla essence and beat lightly until all gets mixed together. Now in batches, alternatively add the dry ingredients and milk starting and ending with dry ingredients ( this step ensures that the batter stays creamy without curdling )
First mix 1/3 rd of the dry ingredients ( From this point you can beat lightly with your beater or just use your spatula to mix )
5)  Add 1/2 cup milk beat once, followed by the next 1/3 rd of the dry ingredients. Mix in the remaining 1/2 cup milk.
6) Finally add the last 1/3 rd batch of dry ingredients and mix until all gets incorporated. Take care not to over mix or over beat the batter. Fold in the dates and walnuts ( reserve some walnuts for topping )
7) Pour the batter in the prepared ( greased with oil / butter and dusted with flour) baking pans. Bake at 190 C for 40 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted at the centre comes out clean. My 8 x 6 pan was not enough to hold the whole batter, so I used to muffins pans too. The Muffins were ready in 22 minutes.

That's it .... Dates cake is ready to enjoy!!

NOTES:
1) You can replace half of the all purpose flour with whole wheat flour too. My SIL has made this cake with 100% whole wheat flour too ( The taste was very good but slightly different flavour ) Try the one which you will like.
2) Make sure your butter is at room temperature.
3) Don't beat the batter at high speed while adding dry ingredients.
4) The final batter should be very creamy.
5) Don't skip the walnuts as they add very nice texture to the cake.
6) Don't let the final batter let standby, bake immediately.

Sending this to Nupur's What's with my cuppa?? event

Cheers, 

Sindhiya.S