Spiced Almond and Date Cake (Vegan)
I was skimming through my trove of cook books and stumbled across a recipe for a Cold Tea Cake (Readers Digest's Farmhouse Cookery - Recipes from the Country Kitchen - 1980). The notion is that if you had leftover tea from breakfast, and wanted to make a treat for the family, you would use the tea as the wet base for a fruit cake. The recipe included dates, sultanas, and mixed spice for flavour. I noticed that the cake was egg-free (it's a humble recipe and so makes sense), and it only used margarine and as such is vegan. With the inclusion of dates, I was reminded of my Spiced Almond and Date Biscotti which I had based on the flavours of ka’ak asawir (a biscuit popular in Palestine). I thought the flavours would work really well in a cake, and so decided to put my own twist on the Cold Tea Cake recipe. I have noted in the recipe about covering the cake with foil. I should note that I didn't with mine (pictured), although I know people may think it's a little too much on the browned side and so wanted to give you the option.
Serves 10
Hands-on Time 20 minutes
Baking Time 50 minutes
Ingredients
2 cardamom pods
1 star anise
1/4 tsp fennel seeds
100g demerara sugar
50g margarine (plus extra for greasing)
75g dried dates (stoned)
110ml black tea
125g self-raising flour
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
75g blanched whole almonds
Equipment
Coffee grinder or bullet blender (or pestle and mortar)
20cm cake tin (springform or fixed bottom)
Baking parchment
Saucepan
Scissors
Spatula
Mixing bowl
Knife
Wire rack
Tin foil (optional)
Method
1. Prepare the spiced sugar
Crack open the cardamom pods and remove the seeds. Discard the shells.
Grind the cardamom seeds, star anise, fennel seeds, and 50g of sugar into a fine powder using a grinder or blender.
2. Make the cake
Preheat the oven to 170°C/150°C (fan)/325°F/Gas Mark 3.
Grease and line the bottom and sides of the cake tin.
Snip the dates into the saucepan using scissors. Add the remaining sugar, margarine, and tea.
Place over a medium heat and stir until combined and the dates have softened.
Combine the flour, spiced sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and bicarb in a mixing bowl.
Chop and add the almonds.
Fold in the tea mixture until combined.
Pour the batter into the tin, tap to release air bubbles, and bake for 50 minutes. After 40 minutes if the top is a little browned, cover with foil.
Cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Enjoy!
