Eggless Dry Fruits and Nuts Cake

This colorful, attractive  cake is a rich cake with nuts and dry fruits.  The recipe is taken from a vegetarian cookbook,  “Great Vegetarian Dishes” by Kurma Das. I did small changes in this recipe. This is my mom’s favorite cake . Last month my mom came from India. I made this cake for her birthday. She was so happy, she liked the cake very much.

Ingredients

Plain Flour (Maida)                                  – 2 cups

Melted butter                                              1 tbsp (15 ml)

Unsalted Butter                                         – 1 cup

Smoothly mashed potato                          250 gm. (1 cup)

Baking powder                                          1 1/2 tsp

Baking soda                                              1/4 tsp

Mixed dried fruit                                          2 cups. (I used tropical fruits, cranberries, black and golden raisins, dates and cherry, currants )

Walnuts and Cashews                            100gm

Brown sugar                                            220 gm. (1 cup)

Maple syrup                                            1 tbsp (15 ml)

Finely grated zest                                    from  one orange

Water                                                        250 ml (1 cup)

Yogurt                                                        2 tbsp (30 ml)

Vanilla extracts                                         1 1/2 tsp

Allspice powder                                        3/4 tsp

Blanched and peeled almonds               for decoration

Method:

• Cake mix: Chop nuts into small pieces; chop Tropical fruits, dates and cherry into small pieces.
• Sieve the flour, i/4 tsp of baking soda, and baking powder and mix well.
• In a saucepan, combine the dried fruit, sugar, butter, syrup and water and heat slowly on low heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves.
• Increase the heat to medium and allow the mixture to come to a boil, reduce the heat and then simmer for 20 minutes on low heat.
• Remove the sauce pan from the heat, mix in the 1 tsp baking soda and allow to cool.
• Once the mixture has reached room temperature, add the yogurt, vanilla extract, all spice and mashed potato and beat well with a whisk, until the mixture is smooth.
• Add the nuts, and carefully fold in the flour, mixing until well combined.
• Baking: Grease a cake tin; spread some dry fruits in the bottom, put the cake dry fruit mixture, level it.
• Decoratively arrange the almonds over the top of the cake.
•  Cover the cake with aluminum foil and bake at 180 degree centigrade/ 350 degrees F for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes clean.
• Now colorful Egg less Dry Fruits and Nuts Cake is ready. If possible, allow the cake to mature over night or at least for 4 to 5 hours before slicing it up.
• Note: Potato starch is a common ingredient found in egg replacers and the potatoes here act as a binding agent and you can’t detect its presence in the cake.
•  You may use dry fruits and nuts of your choice.