EGGLESS PLUM CAKE

I have tried this particular recipe for my friends who do not prefer the egg cakes. On my last Christmas I was glad to gift plum cakes to my vegetarian friends.  It took me few trials to come to this perfect recipe. This cake comes out moist and tasty. And in no way it can be considered less than the original plum cake.

The dry fruits should be soaked in rum for minimum two days. I soak them for a week. The myth that eggless cakes are not very tasty can be easily denied. Try it to believe it!

Recipe for Eggless Plum Cake

Ingredients

• 1 cup plain flour
• 2 tbsp whole wheat flour
• 1 cup dry fruits (raisins, sultanas, cashews, almonds, walnuts, plum), orange peel, candied ginger
• 3 tbsp caramel syrup
• ¼ tsp cinnamon powder
• ¼ tsp grated nutmeg
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla essence
• ½ cup dermerara sugar or cane sugar
• 2/3 cup oil or melted butter
• ½ cup milk
• 1 ½ tbsp cider vinegar or synthetic vinegar
• 1 tbsp rum (optional)

How to make Caramel Syrup

In a saucepan heat 3 tbsp of sugar and 1 tbsp of water on low heat. Initially avoid stirring.

When the sugar changes its colour from golden to amber add 1 ½ tbsp of boiling water and stir to get a shiny syrup. Remove from heat and set aside.

How to make the plum cake

Chop the dry fruits roughly.

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees C. Grease and line a baking tin (7”x 7”) with butter paper.

Beat the melted butter or oil, sugar, vanilla essence and caramel syrup to get a smooth, shiny, dark coloured  mixture.

In a separate bowl sift all the dry ingredients accept baking soda.

Add the dry ingredients dry fruits, peels and candied fruits to the butter mixture and fold gently till combined well.

Add vinegar to the milk. Also add baking soda to this mixture. Stir gently and add this frothy mixture to the cake batter.

Fold the batter till you get a light, homogeneous mixture. This step should be done quickly to avoid any loss of air from the batter.

Transfer the batter to a greased baking tin. Bake at 180 degree C for 35 minutes.

Let the cake cool for 5 to 7 minutes. Sprinkle the warm cake with 2 tablespoon of rum (optional).

Enjoy your eggless plum cake with a hot mug of coffee.

Tips

• If you want to avoid rum add rum essence.
• Soya milk can be used in place of dairy milk.
• The amount of sugar is enough to make it just sweet. If you like it more sweet add ¼ cup sugar.