So why does a Diabetic start a dessert blog?
Because this diabetic loves making desserts for family and friends!
She usually trusts the World Wide Web for providing her with decadent desserts recipes. She makes them and then book marks the recipes for future references.
Then her either her laptop gets formatted. Or she is in some marooned island with her "just bought" smartphone, frantically searching for that perfect Pumpkin Cheesecake Recipes. The one she made last Thanksgiving. The one, her friends still talk about.... even in June.
And she cannot find it.
Taking printouts and organizing and indexing the recipes is an option but she is way too unorganized, clumsy and forgetful for that.
So she decided to entrusts Blogger with her precious dessert recipes. She is going to list out the Ingredients, try and write the Process as detailed as possible and even throw in some pics. If she is feeling happy, she might even share some tips and tricks.
And all this is just for her. And her alone. So that when she is in that marooned island with her just bought smartphone, she knows just where to find that perfect Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe. The one she made last Thanksgiving. The one, her friends still talk about.... even in June.
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I love this cake. I really do. And so does my family. It goes perfectly with your afternoon tea or coffee. And even morning tea, if you are indulgent.
And its classy affair, when your serve it slightly warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and some sticky toffee sauce.
Your guests are mighty impressed. I can see that satisfaction in your face.
I can! I can!
Now, that I have convinced you that this cake is going to feature in your next party, its going to be a "cake walk" from this point. Quite literally.
This is perhaps the easiest and the yummiest cake I have ever baked. Its Eggless and Butter-less.
Not that I was looking for an eggless variety. The recipe just, didn't call for eggs or butter and I never for once missed them in the cake. It was fluffy, moist and plain delicious.
You can see it for yourself how fluffy it is. Really no eggs.
Have a closer look.
Incredible! Isn't it?
There is a little since behind it. You see Baking Soda is a "base" and it requires an "acid" ingredient to start a chemical reaction, that will release carbon-di-oxide and make the batter airy and bubbly, resulting in fluffier cake. Here the soaked dates-in-milk provides the "acid" ingredient. This is the reason you find nearly all eggless cakes use buttermilk or yogurt or even vinegar in their recipes. And they also use Baking Soda instead of Baking Powder.
This Date and Apple is adapted from Bong Mom's Cookbook: Eggless Date Cake -- goodness does not spell butter. I just added some apple sauce and tiny bites and called it Date and Apple Cake. You can also add any nuts instead of Apple can call it Date and Nut Cake!
I made this cake to take it to a potluck party and hence could not cut it or taste it. In such circumstances, I make a tiny tester cupcake with only 2 tsp of batter and then I know if I am in the right tract.
In this case I was!
Though every body likes to serve or have it with ice cream, my personal favorite way to savor is with a steaming up of Mocha Latte.
| Recipe Snapshot: Eggless Date and Apple Cake Adapted from: Bong Mom's Cookbook: Eggless Date Cake Makes: 1 8" Round Cake or 12-14 cupcakes Ingredients:
All Purpose flour - 2 cups
Baking Soda - 2 tsp
Salt - ¼ tsp
Sugar - ¼ cup (The amount will depend on the sweetness of the dates and apples. ¼ was enough for my taste but you can increase it to ½ cup or even 1 cup)
Dates - 25-30 dates, pitted (The quantity of dates and sugar is related. if you decrease the amount of dates, be sure to increase the amount of sugar)
Milk - 1 cup
Apple Sauce - 4 oz tub
Apple - 1, peeled, cored and chopped in bite sized pieces and tossed with a tablespoon of flour
Oil (any flavorless oil) - ½ cup
1. Soak the dates in milk overnight. Keep it in the fridge. Alternatively, you can soak the dates in warm/ hot milk for 1 to 2 hrs and then nuke them a little.
2. Preheat the oven to 350F and grease an 8" round tin with oil spray and dust with flour to make it non-stick.
3. Peel, core and dice the apple into tiny bites and dust them with a teaspoon of flour. This will prevent them from sinking at the bottom of the cake.
4. Shift together the flour, baking soda and salt and keep aside.
5. In a blender or processor, blend the dates with milk, apple sauce, sugar and oil.
6. Pour the contents of the blender into a big bowl. Add the shifted flour mixture and gently fold in with a spatula. Do not over mix.
7. Add the flour coated apple bites. Fold in gently.
8. Pour the batter in to the prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, till a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
9. Cool the cake completely on a wire rack. Dust it with some powdered sugar to make it look pretty.
10. Serve warm with some vanilla ice cream. They are equally delicious with a steaming cup of coffee or tea.
Tips: You can swap the apples for chopped walnut and call it, Date and Walnut Cake!!!
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