Dates & Carrot Cake

Ingredients

All purpose flour - 2 cups
Sugar - 1 1/2 cup
Oil - 1 1/4 cup
Eggs - 3
Soda Bicarbonate - 1 1/4 tsp
Dates - 1/2 cup cut into small pieces
Nuts - 1/2 cup cut into small pieces
Carrot - 1 cup grated
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Masala for cake - 1/2 tsp (nutmeg/cinnamon/cloves/cardamom powdered)
Caramel - 1/2 cup (almost)
7” Cake tin - 2

Method

1. Soak the dates with 1/2 of the Soda Bicarbonate previous day & keep.

2. Caramelizing sugar: - Take 1/2 cup sugar in a thick bottom pan. Add 1 tbsp water.
Heat it on a medium flame. When sugar melts, just shake the pan slightly in between and when it reach brown color (don’t burn it) switch off flame and add 1/4 cup+3tbsp hot water. It will splash. So do it carefully. After pouring hot water take your hands away fast. Once the splashing is over switch on the flame again. It should be medium-low flame. Stir and wait until it dissolves.
Let it get cool down.
3. Mix all purpose flour with balance soda bicarbonate & cake masala and sieve.
4. Butter cake tins and then dust it with flour.
Or spread butter inside a cake tins and instead of flour you can stick 2 layer grease proof paper (We have 2 tins, so cut for 2 cake tins) inside the cake tins.
If you are using only one cake tin, after removing 1st cake, you have to follow the same procedure of buttering and sticking grease proof paper/dusting with flour. Make sure the cake tin is cold enough to handle.
5. Beat egg white separately till it becomes like foam.

6. Beat sugar, oil and vanilla essence egg yolks (one by one) together (Sugar will not dissolve nicely and mix only till the egg yolks just blends well).
7. Preheat oven to 160°C (Fan).
8. Add caramel and mix well using a spatula.
9. Add sieved flour, nuts, grated carrot & dates to the above mix.
10. Then fold the egg white mixture carefully into the above mix. Don’t over mix it.
11. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, level the top with a spatula.
12. Bake about 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
13. Place on a wire rack to cool, and then gently remove the cake from the pan.

Note: Store the cake in an air tight container or cover it with foil for 2 days before you cut it.

Sponge Cake

Ingredients

Self raising flour - 100g
Eggs - 2 (almost 120 gm)
Butter -100g

Powdered sugar -100g

Oil - 1 tbsp

Vanilla essence -1tsp

Method
Egg and butter must be at room temperature.
Butter should be soft.
Butter a cake pan and then dust it with flour. Set aside.

1. Take butter in a mixing bowl. Beat it till creamy.
2. Then add powdered sugar. Beat it until it is smooth and creamy.
3. Add vanilla extract and then add eggs, one at a time. Mix only till it just blends.
4. Preheat oven to 150°C (Fan).
5. Add flour to the batter. Mix only till it well blends. (Please don’t over mix it).

6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, level the top with a spatula.
7. Bake about 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
8. Place on a wire rack to cool, and then gently remove the cake from the pan.
Note: Store the cake in an air tight container or cover it with foil for 2 days before you cut it.