Who doesn't love a soft, moist and rich dry fruit aka plum cake? We all love a good plum cake. Store-bought cakes are usually made using alcohol. That's why I bring to you simple dry fruit cake recipe without any alcohol. No soaking required for dry fruits, plus it's eggless. AND this cake was made in the microwave in under 10 mins. Keep reading as I'll be sharing tips and tricks on how to get the perfect taste and texture. Stay tuned to get the step-by-step picture instructions for this recipe.
INGREDIENTS:
For the Dry fruits:
- Dates- Ajwa- 2 tbsp, Burni- 2 tbsp (You can use any variety of your choice or you can even use dried dates)
- Cashewnuts- 3 tbsp (finely chopped)
- Raisins- 3 tbsp (finely chopped)
- Almonds- 3 tbsp (finely chopped)
- Cherries- 3 tbsp (finely chopped)
- Tutti frutti- 3 tbsp (finely chopped)
- Orange peel- 2 tbsp (remove the white part and then chop finely)
- Cocoa powder- 1 tbsp
- Oat flour- 1/4 cup
For the Caramel syrup:
- Sugar- 2/3 cup + 1 tbsp
- Water- 2 tbsp + 1/2 cup
Other Ingredients:
- Orange juice- 1/2 cup
- Milk- 1/4 cup
- Cooking oil- 6 tbsp (I've used sunflower oil here)
- Refined flour- 2 cups
- Baking powder- 1 tsp
- Baking soda- 1/4 tsp
- Salt- to taste
- Cinnamon powder- 1/4 tsp
- Vanilla essence- 1 tsp
- Instant Coffee powder- 1 tsp
PROCEDURE:
This recipe can be divided into three main steps:
- Prepping the dry fruits.
- Making caramel syrup.
- Preparing the batter and baking it.
- Prepping the dry fruits.
- Making caramel syrup.
- Preparing the batter and baking it.
1. Prepping the dry fruits:
- Chop all the dry fruits finely. I have used two varieties of dates here, ajwa and burni. You can use any variety of your choice or even use dried dates.
- You can even add other dry fruits of your choice like dried apricots, dried figs, etc.
- Chop the dry fruits finely as larger chunks can crumble the cake while cutting.
- Traditionally, the dry fruits are soaked in orange juice and later used in the batter. But this step makes the dry fruits sink and settle at the bottom.
- To prevent sinking i skipped the soaking step and coated the dry fruits evenly in cocoa powder and oats flour.
- Coating the nuts in flour and then adding it to the batter makes it even throughout and prevents sinking.
2.Making Caramel syrup:
- Take a wide vessel, add sugar and 2 tbsp water to it and mix gently.
- Switch on the flame and let it come to a boil, keep stirring in intervals.
- After cooking it for 2-3 mins, you'll see that the sugar starts to change colour.
- When the colour gets golden, add water gradually. Be careful, as the sugar starts to splutter when water is added. You'll see that the sugar starts to harden as a block. It is completely normal and just simmer it for 5 mins. It'll get liquid again.
- Once the mixture starts to boil again and the caramel has melted. Switch off the flame and let it cool down completely.
3.Preparing the batter and baking:
- Take a large mixing bowl, add milk and oil to it. You can use butter instead.
- Mix the oil and milk to create an emulsion.
- Now add the caramel syrup to it and mix well, mix until all the caramel has been mixed evenly.
- Now add coffee powder, cinnamon powder and vanilla essence. mix well.
- Set this mixture aside.
- Sieve together refined flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Add half of the dry ingredients to the wet ones. Mix gently using cut and fold method.
- Now add rest of the dry ingredients to it and mix gently. Make sure you don't over-mix it.
- Now add the cocoa-coated dry fruits to it and mix gently.
- Now add orange juice and give one final mix.
- Add vinegar and mix it and immediately pour it in a greased and lined microwave-safe bowl.
- Microwave on high for 5 mins.
- Alternatively, you can bake this in a kadhai set-up for 25-30 mins or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
- Our lovely plum cake is ready, dust some sugar powder over it and serve right away. I personally love warm plum cake, as it tastes much better. You can even chill it in the refrigerator if you prefer.
