Whole wheat plum cake made using orange juice, naturally sweetened by dried fruits with nutty bites and flavored with spices, is a yummy delight for sure. I have used very little of Jaggery caramel to bring in the natural color and caramel flavor to the plum cake. This jaggery caramel is completely optional and you shall skip it to make a diet-friendly plum cake. Plum cake involves more effort compared to ordinary cakes, but the final product is worth the effort. This is the only type of cake that I have tasted in my childhood and so I am hooked to its taste. Plum cake is my hubby’s favorite too and so I bake this more often and we both enjoy every bite 🙂 This is a combined version of my Orange cake(link) and Dates bread(link). As usual, this is the healthier version of Plum cake, I would say 😉 Yet I assure you that this taste won’t disappoint you. Do try it out!
Whole Wheat Plum Cake without Alcohol
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Serves: 10
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- Whole Wheat Flour - 1.5 cup or 200g
- Baking Soda - ½ tsp levelled
- Cashews - 30 or 40g
- Almonds - 20 or 20g
Spices
- Cinnamon powder - ½ tsp
- Dry ginger powder/Sukku Thool - ½ tsp
- Cardamom powder - ¼ tsp
- Nutmeg powder - ⅛ tsp
- Cloves - 5
- Salt - 1 pinch(optional)
Soaking ingredients
- Oranges - 2 or ½ cup Orange Juice
- Raisins - ½ cup heaped or 100g
- Dates - 12 or 200g
- Figs - 5 or 75g (optional)
Caramel
- Jaggery - ¼ cup heaped
- Water - ⅛ cup
Wet ingredients
- Eggs - 2
- Vanilla Extract - 1 tsp
- Orange juice - ¼ cup
- Zest - 1 tbsp
- Coconut oil(melted) - ⅓ cup
Instructions
Preparation:
- First, keep out 2 eggs from fridge, before 2 to 3 hours of cake baking. Egg should be in room temperature when you start to beat.
- Wash dates, deseed, chop into small pieces.
- Wash figs, cut out the hard edge and discard. Chop the figs into small pieces. Skip figs if you don't like the taste of it.
- Chop cashews and almonds into small bits or thin slices as you wish. You shall chop and add more nuts like unsalted pistachios, pecans, walnuts.
- Take 2 to 3 oranges, wash well, cut into halves and juice out with pulp. Scrape out the zest from the skin of 2 oranges using zester. Be gentle to scrape out only the orange part. If you put more strength, you might end up scraping the white part as well which will be so bitter. Be cautious not to scrape the same place twice to avoid scraping the white part.
- Take 4 to 5 cloves and crush it to powder without any bits. I used mortar and pestle to crush.
Soaking:
- In a pan, add ½ cup orange juice and ½ cup heaped raisins. Mix well and let it boil in medium flame.
- After 2 mins, add chopped dates and figs and mix well. Heat in medium flame for 2-3 mins until the juice is well absorbed by the dry fruits. Transfer it to a bowl and let it cool down completely. Leave it aside for at least half an hour to get soaked and cooled.
Jaggery Caramel:
- To a dry pan, add ¼ heaped cup powdered jaggery or cane sugar and spread it well throughout the pan and turn on the stove in low medium heat.
- Jaggery starts to melt in the bottom and once all the bottom layer is melted and you see wetness in the bottom, splash some water and start mixing with a ladle. Do not wait for the jaggery to completely melt down as it might start to char/burn.
- Add more water and mix well without any lumps. In total, I used exactly ⅛ cup water, which is half of ¼ cup.
- Let it boil for 1 or 2 more mins in medium flame. Strain the jaggery syrup to a bowl and let it cool down completely.
Dry Mix:
- To a sieve, add 1 cup whole wheat flour, ½ levelled tsp baking soda, spice powders(1/2 tsp Cinnamon powder, ½ tsp Dry ginger powder, ¼ tsp Cardamom powder, ⅛ tsp Nutmeg powder, Cloves powder and 1 pinch Salt) and ½ cup wheat flour. Mix well using a spoon and then Sieve it once using a double-sieve or twice using a single sieve.
- Add chopped nuts(cashews & almonds) to the sieved dry mix and give a quick mix.
- Add soaked dates, figs and raisins mix to the sieved flour and gently mix using a spatula/spoon. Do not knead or over-mix to avoid forming gluten strands.
Wet mix:
- To a pan, add 2 eggs(at room temperature) and whisk well until frothy. Use hand mixer to save time.
- Add ½ to 1 tsp vanilla extract and give a quick mix. Vanilla flavor will mask the egg smell.
- Add the jaggery caramel syrup(completely cooled down) and mix well.
- Add ¼ cup orange juice and mix well.
- Add Orange zest and give a quick mix.
- Add ⅓ cup melted coconut oil(room temperature) and mix well.
Mix & Bake:
- Preheat oven to 350 F or 180 C.
- Add dry ingredients into wet mix. Using cut & fold method(as shown in video below) gently mix so that no dry flour is seen. Do not over mix.
- Line cake pan/bread tin with parchment paper or just grease with oil or butter.
- Transfer the cake batter into the pan. Just fill till half as it will rise up to the top, while baking. Note that this batter will be thick & will not be in pouring consistency.
- Bake in preheated oven (middle tray) for 45 mins to 1 hour until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Timing might vary from oven to oven.
- Take out of the oven and leave it in the pan for 20 mins.
- Take out and enjoy warm or cool down, cut and store in air-tight container. The taste enhances on the next day. Stays good in room temperature for 3 to 5 days or in refrigerator for 10 days.
Notes
1.Adding zest elevates the taste but if you don't have zester, just leave it. Do not use cheese grater or carrot grater to grate the skin as it will scrape out the white part and make the cake bitter.
2.You shall skip Jaggery caramel and directly add powdered jaggery or cane sugar to egg mix. Caramel enhances the color and flavor of the cake though.
3.You shall skip eggs and add ⅓ cup milk. Warm the milk, add 1 tsp lemon juice to curdle it. Cool down and then add it to the wet mix.
4.You shall skip oil and add butter. If using butter, keep ½ cup butter out in room temperature until it becomes soft. In wet mix, first beat the butter until creamy, then add ½ cup powdered jaggery or cane sugar and beat well until creamy. Then add one egg and beat well. Then add the other egg and beat well. If adding butter, then ½ cup jaggery or sugar is required as butter will curdle if egg is directly added to the butter without sugar/jaggery. So, if adding butter and egg, you need to add more sweetener, as mentioned. If you want to lessen the sweetness, then you shall add butter(whisk until creamy) but skip egg and add curdled milk as mentioned in the last point.
5.Coconut oil doesn't impart coconut oil flavor to the cake and I prefer coconut oil. You shall replace it with any neutral-smelling cooking oil.
2.You shall skip Jaggery caramel and directly add powdered jaggery or cane sugar to egg mix. Caramel enhances the color and flavor of the cake though.
3.You shall skip eggs and add ⅓ cup milk. Warm the milk, add 1 tsp lemon juice to curdle it. Cool down and then add it to the wet mix.
4.You shall skip oil and add butter. If using butter, keep ½ cup butter out in room temperature until it becomes soft. In wet mix, first beat the butter until creamy, then add ½ cup powdered jaggery or cane sugar and beat well until creamy. Then add one egg and beat well. Then add the other egg and beat well. If adding butter, then ½ cup jaggery or sugar is required as butter will curdle if egg is directly added to the butter without sugar/jaggery. So, if adding butter and egg, you need to add more sweetener, as mentioned. If you want to lessen the sweetness, then you shall add butter(whisk until creamy) but skip egg and add curdled milk as mentioned in the last point.
5.Coconut oil doesn't impart coconut oil flavor to the cake and I prefer coconut oil. You shall replace it with any neutral-smelling cooking oil.
Make this delicious Plum cake and give your family a healthy treat for this Christmas & New Year. Wishing you all Merry Christmas, Healthy & Happy New Year 🙂
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