It has been so long that I have posted a cake recipe, in fact the last one was in February which was this delicious Chocolate Sponge cake. The cake is so amazing that I have been making it regularly, mostly as cupcakes for my kids. It is also a great snack box option for my daughter who’s school has started regularly now (after months of online classes, my butterfly is happy to be flying again 😄).

Apart from chocolate cake and other cakes, I have also learned to make this healthy Dry fruit Cake which she takes to school and my 3 year old son too enjoys it as his morning snack. In fact I made it again today on their request and decided to take step by step pictures to share the recipe with all of you too. 😍

My son could not wait for me to complete taking pictures and he came to take a slice. I captured the moment and it came out so cute. Those tiny hands. 😍

He gobbled up two slices of the cake and the rest of them are waiting for my daughter to come back from school. It’s her favorite and I am sure she will be very happy to see it. ❤️

Hope you all try and love this cake too. They are a great way to add the healthy dry fruits in the kids’ diet and since it has wheat flour and ghee along with the nuts, they are filling too. Specially great for the winters now. I have also been making these easy Sesame seeds Burfi and Dry fruits ladoo for them which you can try as well. Happy and healthy cooking! ❤️

RECIPE:

Makes a single loaf cake in a loaf pan of length 20 cm and width 7 cm

Ingredients:

Dry Ingredients: { 1 Cup = 240 ml }

1 Cup Whole wheat flour (Regular Chapati atta)

1 tsp Baking powder

1 tsp Baking soda

1/4 tsp Salt

Wet Ingredients:

1 Cup Mixed nuts, raisins and dates (I take about 10 cashews, 10 Almonds, some raisins and 5 seedless dates which make a total of 1 Cup)

1 Cup Orange Juice (I use freshly squeezed)

1/4 Cup Jaggery powder

1/4 Cup Ghee

Step by step recipe:

1. Sieve together 1 Cup wheat flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt into a mixing bowl.

2. Take mixed nuts and raisins in a mixer. Deseed dates and halve them (Fine chop them if they are not very soft. It helps when you pulse later in the mixer). Keep aside.

3. Coarsely powder the nuts and raisins together using Pulse mode of the mixer. Don’t grind at one go or you will get a paste. Just pulse few times till the nuts turn into coarse powder. Now add the deseeded dates to it.

4. Pulse again till the dates blend together and it forms a coarse mixture as shown. (Small pieces of dates left in the mixture is fine. Gives a great bite in the cake.) Note that this mixture is in powder form and not paste. Pulse the mixer few times to get this. Don’t grind all at once as the nuts leave oil and the mixture becomes a paste.

5. Now preheat the oven at 180 C for 10 mins.

6. Meanwhile take this dry fruit mixture in a mixing bowl, along with jaggery powder and ghee. Keep orange juice ready too.

7. Add orange juice and mix well. Remember to sieve the orange juice if using fresh ones so that it does not have the pulp.

8. Now add the dry ingredients to the wet Ingredients. Mix well using light hands till you don’t see any dry flour specks. Don’t overmix or you will get a dense cake. Just few mixes till you don’t see dry flour is enough.

9. Add to a greased cake pan. I grease my pan with ghee. The size of my loaf pan is 20 cm length and 7 cm width. Using a spatula, flatten the surface.

10. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 C for 30 mins. Might take between 25 to 35 mins depending on your oven type. Keep an eye after 25 mins. Don’t keep opening the oven door before that. Using a skewer or toothpick, insert in the center of the cake. If it comes out clear or with dry crumbs, it is done. If it comes out wet, keep again for 5 mins and check again.

11. Allow it to cool for sometime. Once cooled, loosen the edges of the cake using a knife and invert onto a plate.

12. Slice and serve. Store in a moisture free container.

Notes:

* This cake lasts well at room temperature for a day. Mine gets over within that time but if yours lasts, you can refrigerate it. Microwave for few seconds before serving if needed.

* I always use Pillsbury wheat flour and it works well for all my bakes. Recently though I started baking with Lulu brand of wheat flour and they come out great as well. This particular bake was with Lulu wheat flour and I was happy to see the cake come out soft and tasty.

* I have used freshly squeezed and sieved orange juice for this cake. It enhances the flavour of the cake so much. You can use store bought ones too.

* Regarding the mixed nuts, raisins and dates, as I have mentioned above, I have used about 10 cashews, 10 Almonds, few raisins and 5 dates. This made 1 Cup. You can use other nuts too if you like but I prefer this combination. Don’t skip dates though as it adds to the sweetness of the cake.

* You can also finely chop all the nuts and dates but I prefer coarsely powdering it as my kids don’t like the bite of nuts in their cakes.

* I have used 1/4 Cup Jaggery powder. It makes the cake sweet like bakery ones. You can skip if you want to make it completely sugar free and also substitute with brown sugar if you want.

* I always use ghee or butter in my bakes as I make it mainly for my kids. So, not sure about the texture and flavour if oil is used instead.

* Don’t overmix the dry and wet Ingredients. Mix slowly with light hands till the mixture is free from dry flour specks.

* My cake gets done exactly at 30 mins. Since each oven type is different, please keep an eye on the cake after 35 mins. Mine is an OTG. In microwave convection oven, the time required to bake will be less. So keep an eye after 20 mins into the baking time.

* This cake is very soft and slightly moist due to the orange juice and dates. So be careful while slicing it and start slicing only after it cools completely. Else it can break apart as it’s very soft in texture.

* If you are new to baking, I have written an article combining all notes and pointers that I learnt in my decade long baking journey. You can check that if needed – Baking Basics for Beginners

* For all my healthy bake recipes – Healthy Cakes, Cookies and Breads

* This cake was an inspiration from my Sugar free Dates Carrot Cake which uses milk instead of orange juice and grated carrots instead of nuts.

* Dates in cakes taste so heavenly and my Dates Chocolate Brownie and Dates Oats Cake recipes are examples to that.

I have tried to note down as much points as possible so that it’s easy for you all to follow but if you still have any doubts, either comment here or message me on my Facebook page Healthy cooking with mitha or on my Instagram handle and I would be happy to help. Happy baking!