When few of blogger friends asked to post any sweet for the good news of mittu clearing the interview(these days even prekg admissions are like getting a seat in college), I readily agreed to give a cake treat as I had that already in my drafts 🙂 Here is a visual treat to share my happiness with all of you !! And thanks to all who had wished her good luck!
When I entered the blogging world and saw so many baking recipes, dates cake was the first that I baked even before I owned an oven. Yes I baked it in ammas stove top oven. After I got my oven, dates cake was one of the first few cakes that I baked. So dates cake has always a special place in my baking experience.I baked this cake few months ago to share it with my office collegues and with no doubt I was back with appreciations and a request to bring it again 🙂
Eggless Dates Cake Recipe – Ingredients
Recipe Source : Aayis Recipes
Recipe Source : Aayis Recipes
- Maida – 1 cup (135 gms)
- Dates – 18 (I used brown dates, black dates can also be used)
- Milk – 3/4 cup (185 ml)
- Granulated Sugar – 3/4 cup (165 gms)
- Oil – 1/2 cup (125 ml)
- Baking Soda – 1 tsp
- Nuts – 1 tbsp chopped (I used walnuts)
NOTE : I halved the recipe and baked it in a 4X4 inch cake pan
Method:
1. Soak dates with little milk and set aside to make it soft(If its black dates no need to soak).In a mixing bowl, add sugar, milk and oil, stir until sugar completey dissolves. Keep aside. .Sieve maida with baking soda twice so that baking soda is evenly distributed and keep aside.
2. Grind the dates to a fine paste. Add the dates paste to milk sugar mixture and mix well. Now add maida and mix well so the flour blends well with the dates mixture.
3. Add the chopped walnuts and give a quick stir. Preheat oven at 350 F(176 deg C) for 10mins. Meanwhile grease the pan with oil and little flour then add the prepared batter.
4. Bake the cake at 176 deg C for 35-40mins(Check after 30mins then proceed accordingly). Check by inserting a knife or fork at the center of the cake, if it comes out clean then your cake is done. Cool down the cake completely on a wirerack and then cut into slices. Enjoy the cake!!
The cake is slightly moist , very soft and yummy. The dates flavour in cakes is the best I would say. Hubby who doesnt like dates love this cake too. Have I tempted you enough to try this cake? 😉
Pressure cooker method given by Poonkuzhali(a reader of Shamis Passions):
- Take a 7.5 litre pressure cooker and fill about 1 1/2 inch with sand.
- Place the cooker plate above the sand. Remove the gasket and close the cooker and heat it in high flame for 10 mins
- Pour the prepared batter in the greased and floured cooker container and gently place it over the plate inside the cooker.
- Close the lid and dont put the whistle.First keep the flame in high for 5 mins.
- After that simmer the flame to lowest possible and check after 40 mins.It took exactly 45 mins for me.
My Notes:
- Brown dates are little harder so soaking them is a must, but black dates need no soaking. Grinding the dates paste coarse is also ok – it depends on how you like your dates in your cake).
- If you want a low fat version then add only 1/4 cup oil and add 2 tbsp extra milk.
- The color of the cake purely depends on the dates used. I have used brown dates here if you use balck dates the cake will be on a darker side.
- If the recipe calls for baking soda or baking powder , sieve it atleast twice with the flour so that the distribution is even.
- This time I didnt lay a butter paper just greased it with little oil and flour. The cake came out clean.
I love to bake this and I Made this many times too. Wonderful clicks
Dates cake looks delicious….Love the clicks..
Yummy looking cake and eggless too.
Wow!i love it! Dates cake looks delicious…
Thanks for sharing!!
http://all4payday.com
Wow super cute dates cake, looks moist n soft dear!!
Bookmarked !
aha…this is the recipe i am looking for.will try it this weekend…Cake looks so moist.can we add some chopped dates in this..
You need to pass an interview to get into preschool in India now? LOL. Anyway congrats to your little one.
That is a gorgeous cake and I know how good this one tastes. It is a regular one in my home too.
Sweet post for a sweetie pie.. nice one sharmi.
mmmmm…. I have dates in my refrigerator. I am sure gonna try this out.
Nice cake..I thought u had already posted this..
thank you
this is the recipe which I mailed and asked u before!!
congrats to Mittukutty !!
Looks so delicious and tempting.. Awesome shots as usual 🙂
Indian Cuisine
These look delicious! Do send them over to my event, if possible!
–
Kavi
(Edible Entertainment)
Ongoing events:
Jingle All The Way &
Microwave Easy Cooking
lovely cake…….dates flavr will b awesome…bookmarked
Wow..soft and spongy cake. Perfect cake, Sharmilee..
Nice , healthy cake..
Congrats..I know getting admission in a good school is far more difficult than clearing even the toughest entrance exams 🙂
And the cake looks perfect to celebrate the occasion. I too have made this cake before but ended up in a super good tasting but sticky cake. Time to try this again.
The cake is so soft & moist and absolutely yummmmm!!! One of my fav 😉
Prathima Rao
Prats Corner
Is 1 cup 200 or 250 gms? I appreciate your quick response.. Thanks
@Priya Hari : My 1 cup measures 250ml which is 150gms.
very soft ,spongy and healthy cake…thanks for sharing..
Wow!!Cake looks so spongy and soft and a low calorie version,the clicks are beautiful..
I wish you to have good news always so that we could indulge in sweet treats like these…
Wishing you a very happy New Year to you & your family!
Lovely and delicious cake..nice one dear
Congrats to your daughter!
I love these ckaes from shilpa's blog too.
so perfect and delicious cake, eggless and butterless makes it more interesting..
This date cake looks lovely. I think it's the perfect treat for New Year's dinner. I love dates, they are so sweet. I can never eat too many without feeling like my teeth will rot. Thanks for sharing this recipe. Is there any glaze for it?
Have a happy new year??
Cutie surely needs a treat !!! Cake looks super moist and yummy…
Yum yum,mouthwatering here..
super soft n delicious looking cake….nice clicks!!
Spicy Treats
Ongoing Event : Bake Fest # 2
Do participate in My 300th Post Giveaway-ends by 31st Dec
wow… cake looks so delicious… and low fat as well… thanks for sharing the recipe… wish you a very happy new year..
Will surely try!
dates cake looks perfect..will give it a try..thanks for sharing 🙂
Sharmi this is super n must try.. i did make ur moist chocolate cake and black forest trifle it came out so so awesome.. but see before i could click them all went into tummies.. my hubbies frnds had come home n they loved it so much n they took some leftovers to thr families too. will be posting it next time i make them.. n see all these credit def goes to u .. i was always worried if i would succeed in baking but ur pics n recipes gave me confidence.. n esp they r eggless ..thanks a ton .. love n hugs to u dear..
This looks heaven sharmi, I must try it as soon as I can…so soft and spongy…happy new year dear..congrats to ur kiddo…
Beautifull cake,well done.
Cake looks so soft and moist…
Bookmark ! Can't wait to try it. 🙂
LOOKING VERY SOFT N TASTY..
HAPPY NEW YEAR……
I adore oil in cake so light! this is just great….Happy New year!!
Hi.. Happy new yr … i want to make this cake in microwave its trio convention so plz let me know the procedure for the same. thanks Lakshmi
@Anonymous : Yes if its microwave with convection mode then yes you can follow the same and procedure to bake this cake. Be careful in the timing alone as it varies for each oven.
hi sharmi i tried this cake yesterday. turned out so yummy.thanks a lot for this recipe .
by the way the edges of my cake turned very crisp and hard. what could be the reasons. i baked it in a square pan.
everytime i bake my cakes, the sides turn so hard and crisp and I have to cut the edges off.
Oh thats great to hear mitha..But I am not sure why your cake turns crispy at the ends alone…depends on oven or temperature setting I guess..Sorry couldnt help u in this regard
Thanks Sharmilee, I tried this and it came out very nice. But pls clarify 2 things: does the 3/4 cup milk include the milk reqd for soaking the dates? I felt the batter was a little dry, so added another 1/4 cup milk. Secondly, when I tested in 20 mins itself, the knife came out clean, so I took out the cake. I felt the middle portion was a little underdone with a lighter colour, though no one else felt so and the cake was finished in minutes. Thanks in advance for your clarifications.
@Anonymous : Yes the 3/4 cup is inclusive of the dates soaking….And timing sure differs from oven to oven but I feel 20mins is too early and that might be the reason for the middle portion a bit uncooked.
Hi!
Am sure gonna try this cake..before that wanted to ask if 180degrees s alright?guess my oven does nt have 176 or probably i dint know how to set it??i hv a new convection oven..the new ones comin now a days should hv this option of adjustin temp between whole nos right?
@Indu : Yes 180 shouldnt be a problem….No issues carry on. Mine is an OTG so can set temperatures inbetween but only manually.
Hi,
Nice looking cake..one question though..can we use lion date syrup instead of dates…
Aruna
@Anon : You can but chopped dates is recommended for better texture and taste
The cake is toooo gud. I made it and my 4 yr old son jus loves it.
Thankyou.
Tried it today and taste and texture were really good. Thanks a lot Sharmi.. But the cake broke off as I took it off the cake pan… can you pl suggest where I might have gone wrong!
@Megha: Guess the softening agent must have been more or the consistency would have been missed….
hi sharmi.. tried the cake now.. woww.. looking good, it came out with good texture. this is for my hubby's birthday. a surprise cake for him. loads of thanks. i fell in love with ur cake recipes. thank u so muchh.
made this cake last week.it was really v tasty and yummy.got over thtr day itself.thanks a lot sharmi
Hello Sharmi. Me along with my mom-in-law tried this recipe and it turned out awesome and stayed so soft even after 2 days. This is a great recipe without egg and butter making it very light. We just did a small variation of adding 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract as well.
Thank you so much for sharing.
Hi! I just made this cake a few days ago and it was incredibly delicious! Thank you for sharing this recipe! I will be making this more and more. Check out my blog on how my version looked like:
http://aspirepatissier.wordpress.com/2012/09/25/52-weeks-of-cake-week-4-crazy-weather-crazy-dates/
Hi Sharmi, Can u tell me the soaking time of the cake? Thanks
@Unknown : I dont get you what soaking time?
Hisharmi my daughter inlaw had made this cake and send it to me.wah yummy all liked it…i am gonna try it and let u know
Jamuna
http://www.floristchennai.com
hi sharmi!
as with u, this cake will always be special to me as it was my first bake too when i was about 16 years old! yummy cake, increased my love for baking 🙂
can u plz suggest what type of icing can go with this cake? normal vanilla icing or some other? i tried to google it but cudnt find a satisfactory answer… 🙁
@Shipra : Thats good to hear….I would suggest a mild icing like plain vanilla fresh cream icing!
this was my first baking experiment with my new oven..and it turned out great..thanks for the perfect recipe !
Found your recipe just last week and I tried them immediately. It turned out to be a hit! My cake turned out much darker brown that yours, I am guessing it's because of the dates I used.
Thanks for sharing!
hello Sharmilee,
I tried out this recipe today, it came out very nice. kids and hubby enjoyed it. It is the first time my cake has come out so moist. thanks for the recipe
thanks
– amruta
Can I use butter instead of oil in this recipe. If yes, then how much butter can I add.
I am really not sure on the butter substitute may be you can try with 1/2 cup of butter and see
hello sharmi…..can i use coconut oil in this recipe???
You can try and see not sure of the taste…
Hi sharmi, I tried this cake and it turned out to be superhit. thank you so much for posting this recipe. trying out all ur posts one by one.
hello sharmi….i tried out this cake today….used refined oil itself…it came out super….thanks for posting this simple cake without eggs…..ur blog is a great encouragement for people like me who do not use eggs but simply luv baking…..thanks so much….:) 🙂 🙂
Hi sharmi, love your page, BTW are you sure its called Dates cake? shouldn't it be Date cake, like Raisin Cake, just a thought.
Yes it is date cake only but I used dates to make it search friendly 🙂
Hello Sharmi, Your cake looks absolutely delicious. Your pics lure me to make this cake. Thanks for posting.
My blog : http://www.universalcookingart.blogspot.in
hi sharmee
this seems yum n healthy too 🙂
wud love to try it….gotta doubt…is it okay in here to use baking powder instead f baking soda???
hopin to hear from u soon….i crave making it 🙂
Hello Sharmee.
All your recipes look SOOO GOOD!
Is it possible for you to name ingredients by their latin/western names as well and maybe add an option for a common ingredient as a substitute?
It's quite difficult to find those exotic ingredients in the place where I live.
I LOVE indian cooking, yet not that familiar with the language..
Maybe you can create in your site an "Indian Ingredients Dictionary" page, with Latin names and common substitutions.
That could be great for all Indian Cuisine fans.
Thanks a lot.
Tom [Israel]
If I do not want to put baking soda can it be still made
May be you should any other substitute for baking soda but am not sure about it!
i tried this its really too good n very softy n tasty
I tried your recipe turned out really good made in muffin cups for my daughter n she gave me a thumbs up so thanks
hi…. cn i use butter instead of oil???????
Yes you can….
Hi sharmi !! I tried your recipe and the cake came out well except that there was a huge crack in the centre. What could have gone wrong ?? I tried your low fat version by reducing the oil and increasing the milk . FYI I baked it in a round pan. Do you think that was the reason ??
I have had cracks in the middle too(in other cakes though not for dates cake) but as far as the cake is baked inside with the correct texture then you need not worry……Usually cakes crack when it is a bit dry so you can adjust the liquid ingredients accordingly……Hope this helps!!
You have mentioned that u halved the recipe so did u reduced the baking time? If so how long it was?
Mine was done in 30mins….it depends
Hi, tried today baked for 35 mins and when checked using knife it came out clean.
But inside it was moist what could be the reason?
And my cake had a crack in the center and top of the cake was little hard and burnt.so what would be the reason?
Thanks for any reply.
If the cake cracks out then the batter must be dry and that yields harder cakes…..
When checked the cake using knife , it came out clean but it was moist inside also the cake got cracked in the middle.taste was good but inside was moist.
Pls reply how can I overcome this?because I am going to make it again today to get it right.
Pls clarify…
I am really not sure of the issue….did you bake it for the mentioned timing?
First 30 min , then 5 min as my knife was not came out clean. After this time it was clean.so totally baked for 36 min
Hi, i plan to double the recipe( taking 2 cups of flour). Should I decrease temperature to 325 F for 1 hr and 15 min bake time or keep the tem same
I don't think we need to decrease the temperature just increase the timing alone…..
Hai …it came out nicely. …thank u
Hello sharmii… i made dis cake 2 times it was very soft n yummy my family loved it… bt in my oven i baked at same temp as u mentioned in recipe bt my top part n edges of the cake cookd faster n finally it gives burnt smell n hard in only edges of the cake …in that case can i reduce the temp of the oven …if yes then at what temp… because tomrrw i want to bake again …plz help me on this n i hope u will…
.thank u
You can try reducing the baking time, please don't reduce the temperature
Tried yesterday and came out well. Everybody at home enjoyed and thank you so much for the recipe
Thank you for this wonderful recipe. My grand daughter relished it. She's a toddler and I am happy I gave her something nutritious and safe.
Hi sharmi dha cake came out well….but dha smell of dha cake s nt prefered by my family dha feel it awkward…bt dey love dha taste…can i add vanilla essence to get rid of dha smell
I am not sure whether dates and vanilla essence will go well, you can try and see
Can I cook in microwave oven if you can share some microwave recipes like pizza muffins cake .
You can bake it in microwave if you have convection mode in ur oven…I don't use microwave so that justifies the absence of microwave recipes here
Wow.. A wonderful cake again.. The cake came out very well.. And I did it thrice in a week out of requests ?
Wow…yummy cake…I made it for my sister's birthday and everyone just loved it…thank you
Dear Sharmi, I participated in the Veg Cake making competition in my colony, and used this recipe, since it being a competition I could not taste the the cake myself, but the taste and texture, sponginess of the cake was perfect as said by judges and the kids and their mothers liked it very much and finished it all after the judges were gone, this was the biggest prize to me though I didn't win any prize. Thank you very much for this recipe.
Made this today for my caroling group …came out excellent… made it into cupcakes….moist and delicious. .tHanks for the recope
This recipe is for 1kg or 500gm cake?
I have 1kg baking tray so wanted to know.
I am not sure but should be less than 500gms I think, as my tin is small about 4X4 inches
Thanks a lot for the recipe, my first baked cake turned out well, should we use any butter paper on top for even cooking as mine didn't cook completely at the bottom even after the upper 3/4 was well cooked. Thanks again for the recipe as it was really tasty.
hi, i bake this cake in my otg ,the taste is good but it is sticky inside the cake,i bake it for 40 min.please tell me the fault i made made.
Not really sure of the reason, was the texture of the cake like the one shown in the pics?
Hi Sharmilee,
Fantastic recipe. The cake came out absolutely super soft & moist. Thanks a lot for the recipe. Totally loved it.
This is the first time I’m making cake recipes from your site. I have tried a lot of your north indian graves. They come out very well each time.
How long does this cake stay outside without refrigeration?
for a day or 2
Hi Sharmi
Great recipes.. can you please tell me if atta/ wheat flour can be used instead of maida and how much.
Thanks
You can try with the same measure
MY ANYDAY GO TO RECIPE. THIS ONE IS SO SIMPLE YET SO FLAVOURSOME. HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING YOU FOR ALMOST 8 YEARS NOW. THANK YOU