My home baking story begins. Who can resist an evening tea with healthy, iron-enriched, sweet, goodness. I am talking about none other than good old Dates Cake. Easy to make with the main ingredient, Dates; this recipe can be put together with every-day items that can be found in the pantry. This Cake may look similar to a fruit Cake but the unique sweetness, richness and the dark color can be achieved mainly from the Dates.

The other crucial ingredient to complete the Cake is Nutmeg. Some freshly grated Nutmeg powder will add a beautiful, sweet, spicy aroma to the Cake, that you will feel in every single bite you eat. If you can’t get your hands on whole nutmeg: bottled nutmeg powder will do the trick.

Here I am using Vegan Butter to make the Cake, as our family is slowly making a switch to a Dairy Free diet. Feel free to use regular butter, and that too will work wonderfully. Just make sure to keep the butter in room temperature before using it, so the batter can be creamed and fluffed easily.

Try not to stress too much when peeling the skin off the Dates. This can be quite annoying or time consuming at times. Just try to take all those crusted, hardened, skin parts off. Why bother you may ask: when you are eating a soft, smooth Cake you don’t wont to bite into a crusty part that’s going to change the texture. If you don’t mind that feeling, hey! its your Cake – you do what your heart desires!!

Directions:

• Place the Dates in a bowl, cover it with hot water and soak for 15 mins.
• Drain the water and remove the skin off of the Dates.
• Mix the Baking Soda with the peeled Dates and set aside. The result will be a Baking-Soda-Dates mush.
• Preheat the oven to 350 F° or 170 C° .
• Grease a 9×9 baking pan with Butter, and line a parchment sheet to the bottom.
• Combine all the the dry ingredients- Flour, Semolina, Sugar, Baking Powder, Baking Soda, Nutmeg Powder, Salt and keep aside.
• In a bowl: first cream the butter and add eggs one at a time. Combine sugar in 3 parts, and beat well.
• Then mix in some vanilla extract.
• Finally, add all the remaining dry ingredients and mix well.
• Pour the batter into the pan and tap the pan few times on the counter to get the air bubbles out.
• Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a test-skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Notes:

• Brown sugar can be substituted to regular sugar.
• Vegan Butter can be substituted with Regular Butter.
• Store in an airtight container in a cool place.