Eggless Butterless Date Cardamom Squares
Every happy event in life becomes happier if it starts on a sweet note. Tea Cakes / Quick Breads are most favoured by the kids at home, along with Muffins of course. As much as possible, I do avoid adding refined sugar and making it sugarfree. As long as I can sneak in ingredients that are otherwise rejected at first sight (I remember how my elder one used to make a face with dates, but now she eats it regularly). Similarly, this cake has the goodness of Dates, that is super rich in fibre and iron (increases haemoglobin) and particularly good for kids in the growing age and puberty too.
What kind of dates can be used for this cake.
Well, you can use the khareek (dry dates) by soaking it in water. But I have used Black Mejdool dates that my family loves to eat as is too.
Benefits of using Dates
Healthline gives us some amazing benefits of consuming dates regularly, like:
- Very Nutritious. Dates have an excellent nutrition profile. …
- High in Fiber. Getting enough fiber is important for your overall health. …
- High in Disease-Fighting Antioxidants. …
- May Promote Brain Health. …
- May Promote Natural Labor. …
- Excellent Natural Sweetener. .
Other quick Tea cakes you may like:
Eggless Sugar Free Ragi Bundt Cake
Browned Butter Semolina Pumpkin Bread
Date Cardamom squares (Eggless & Butterless)
Recipe type : Cakes / Tea Cakes
Course: Dessert / Tea cake
Prep time: 20 mins | Bake time : 22-25 mins
Ingredients:
- All Purpose flour – ½ cup
- Wholewheat flour – ½ cup
- Cardamom powder – ½ tsp
- Salt – a pinch (about 1/8 tsp)
- Baking powder – 1.25 tsp
- Cashewnuts – 2 TBSP (chopped
coarsely) - Black dates – pitted – about 25
pieces (you could use normal dates too) - Milk – 80 ml
- Custard powder – 2.5 tsp
- Brown Sugar – 2/3 cup (powdered)
- Oil – 1/2 cup
- Water – 150 ml
PIN FOR LATER
Method:
- Sieve the flours with salt & custard powder. Pit the dates and grind them with, add 150 ml water to these dates ,
whisk well & heat this mixture till it becomes gooey, take it off the fire and add in baking powder and cardamom powder. It would froth quite a bit so take care. Let this mixture cool down. - Into the flour mixture, add cut nuts .. In a separate bowl, mix sugar, oil and milk well. Add this to the flour
mixture, along with the cooled date puree. - Fold gently till you get a thickish cake like batter without any dry flour between the folds. Pour into a
greased and lined pan, bake on a preheated oven at 180C / 375F for 25-30 mins (mine was done in exactly 27 mins) and a tooth pick comes clean. - Cool on a wire rack, un mould , cut and serve. You may also frost if you wish. I just added a stencil cut icing
sugar topping and glazed cherries.
Date Cardamom Squares
Equipment
- Bowl
- Ladle
- pan
- Stand Mixer
- Baking Tray (8 x 8 Square pan)
- Wet Blender
Ingredients
- 1/2 Cup All Purpose flour
- 1/2 Cup Wholewheat flour ( I used stone ground Chakki Atta)
- ½ tsp Cardamom powder
- ⅛ tsp Salt
- 1.25 tsp Baking powder
- 25 nos. Black dates Pitted, I used Mejdool Dates
- 80 ml Milk (sub with almond milk for vegan)
- 2.5 tsp Custard powder Skip for vegan version with varied results
- ⅔ cup Brown Sugar powdered
- 1/2 Cup Neutral Oil
- 150 ml Water Room Temperature water
- 2 tbsp Cashews chopped coarse
Instructions
- Sieve the flours with salt & custard powder. Pit the dates and grind them with, add 150 ml water to these dates , whisk well & heat this mixture till it becomes gooey, take it off the fire and add in baking powder and cardamom powder. It would froth quite a bit so take care. Let this mixture cool down.
- Into the flour mixture, add cut nuts .. In a separate bowl, mix sugar, oil and milk well. Add this to the flour mixture, along with the cooled date puree.
- Fold gently till you get a thickish cake like batter without any dry flour between the folds. Pour into a greased and lined pan, bake in a preheated oven at 180 C/ 375F for 25-30 mins (mine was done in exactly 27 mins) and a tooth pick comes clean.
- Cool on a wire rack, unmould , cut and serve. You may also frost if you wish. I just added a stencil cut icing sugar topping and glazed cherries.
Notes
- You may need a little less / more water depending on the quality or kind of flour you are using.
- Dough doubling time depends on the outside temperature and humidity
- Baking time may need to be adjusted based on your oven.
I like the pictures and the presentation. Nice sweet note to end the month long effort.
beautiful clicks… it was a great marathon with so many recipes bookmarked….
Very nice bake to end the marathon with Kalyani..I enjoyed all your bakes and gosh so many to try out now..great job even with all your commitments..Kuods..
Squares are beautifully presentation. Enjoyed all your bakes and it fun doing this BM
That is such a pretty cake. It also sounds very flavorful and delicious too.
Enjoyed all your bakes during the marathon Kalyani.
That cake looks pretty with that icing sugar pattern. Enjoyed all your bakes during this marathon.
Wow, thats a pretty and very soft squares Kalyani, that icing sugar pattern gives a neat look..Superb.
Beautiful cake to end the marathon with…so glad you could finish the marathon in spite of being so busy. It's been wonderful running this marathon with you, Kalyani.
the sugar pattern looks great. Cake is very inviting.
The stencil idea is really cool. A fitting finale for the month long awesome bakes, Kalyani. It was a pleasure to go through all of them.
Cake looks so pretty and the pattern looks gorgeous and love the idea..
Delectable cake!! I am sure dates and cardamom as paired up very well..
Looks so festive!
A delicious looking cake and lovely presentation. Date Cardamom Squares look so soft and tempting. I like the addition of cardamom. Treats free of refined sugar is the best for the family and kids. I agree its a good way to sneak in ingredients that kids don’t like.
Thanks Mayuri, yes, cakes like these are a great way to sneak in stuff 🙂
The dates and cardamom cake looks delicious. I was so pleased to see that this was an eggless cake. I am going to save your recipe to try soon.
Thank u, Mina ji. It IS delish , do try it and let me know how you liked it…
I love tea cakes and this sugar free dates cardamom square looks so delicious and healthy. Lovely presentation and click. Cake looks so beautiful.
thanks Sujata. D
Delicious looking dates cardamom squares .I loved the way the dates puree has been folded into the cake batter with the essence of cardamom.
thank you, ji !
Date Cardamom squares look so tempting and delicious. I loved the idea of adding custard powder. So beautifully presented
thank you Preethi. yes the custard powder makes it very soft
This is the perfect cake to make for upcoming Mothers Day. Thanks for the recipe. I cant wait to try it
awww. can’t wait to hear how you liked it 🙂