This eggless fruit and nut cake is a decadent treat, that is filled with the goodness of dried fruit and nuts – a keeper recipe for sure!
Ingredients (makes a large loaf of cake):
- Organic all-purpose flour (maida) (3 cups)
- Cinnamon powder (1/2 tsp)
- Cardamom powder (1/4 tsp)
- Salt (a pinch)
- Yogurt (2 cups)
- Sugar (I used organic brown sugar, but any sugar should work) (1.5 cups)
- Baking soda (1 tsp)
- Baking powder (2 tsp)
- Oil (1 cup)
- Vanilla extract (3 tsp)
- Dried fruit (chopped) (raisins – 1 tbsp, cranberries – 1 tbsp, figs – 2 tbsp)
- Nuts (chopped) (cashews – 1 tbsp, almonds – 1 tbsp)
- Oil (a little for greasing the cake pan)
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- In a medium bowl, mix all-purpose flour, cinnamon and cardamom powders with salt.
- Combine the chopped nuts and dried fruit in a bowl and sprinkle a little (2 tsp) flour on top. Mix well to coat the nuts and fruit with flour.
- In a tall large bowl (that can house the entire cake mix in the end), add yogurt. Whisk it well.
- Add sugar to the yogurt. Mix well until the sugar dissolves.
- Add baking soda and baking powder and mix very gently. No need for any vigorous mixing. Leave it for 4 minutes.
- The yogurt-sugar mixture will have frothed up quite a bit at the end of 4 minutes. Add oil and vanilla essence to the frothing yogurt. Mix gently.
- Now, gradually add the flour mixture into the yogurt mixture. Fold in the nuts and fruit as well. There is no need to beat it vigorously or do a perfect job of mixing everything until it is homogeneous. Roughly fold in the flour and nuts, until there is some semblance of a batter.
- Grease a cake pan with oil. Pour the cake mixture into the pan.
- Bake uncovered for 25 minutes.
- Take the pan out of the oven, cover with an aluminum foil and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. The total baking time for the cake may vary from oven to oven and also on the kind of pan being used. My cake took a grand total of 60 minutes to bake! But I had to abruptly switch off the oven and stop baking, after 20 minutes, since I had to step out of the house. That may have altered the baking times. It is good to check from time to time, after the 25 minute mark if the cake is fully baked or not.
- Let the cake cool for a few minutes and then slice it and store it in an air-tight container.
Tastes (Rasa):
Sweet (flour, oil, sugar, fruit and nuts), sour (yogurt), salt (salt), bitter (none), pungent (cinnamon, cardamom), astringent (none).
Doshic Influence:
This eggless fruit and nut cake is sweet, heavy and nourishing and kapha aggravating in nature. Adding pungent spices like cinnamon and cardamom balance out the kapha while adding to flavor and enhancing digestibility of the cake.
Effects on the Mind (Gunas):
This cake is sattvic if eaten in moderation, made using fresh ingredients and eaten when relatively fresh. Store in the refrigerator and use up to 2-3 days after baking.