Healthy Date Cake (No Added Sugar)
This healthy date cake is a delicious, moist loaf cake which is naturally sweetened with dates and apples. There's no added sugar in the recipe, and this healthy date cake is also low-fat, with a caramel-like flavour and a soft texture, perfect for everyday baking. It's easy to make and great for snacks, dessert, or lunchbox treats.
Equipment
- 450g (1lb) loaf tin
- baking paper
- Food processor optional
Ingredients
- 100 g dates pitted
- 3 medium apples
- 125 g plain wholemeal flour
- 1.5 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon optional
Instructions
- Cut the dates into sultana-sized pieces. Place in a heat-proof bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave to one side.100 g dates
- Oil the sides of the baking tin and line the base with baking paper.
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (160 fan).
- Cut the flesh of the apple away from the core (no need to peel). Add the pieces of apple to the food processor. Blitz until the texture looks like finely grated apple.3 medium apples
- Add the flour, baking powder, milk, egg and cinnamon if using. Blitz until smooth.125 g plain wholemeal flour, 1.5 teaspoon baking powder, 1 large egg, 1 tablespoon milk, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Drain the dates. If necessary squeeze out any excess water with your fingers. Stir the drained dates into the cake batter. (Don't process them otherwise you'll lose all the texture.)
- Spoon the cake mixture into the prepared tin and bake in a preheated oven for 45 minutes. The baked cake should be firm and springy to the touch.
- Once cool enough to handle, remove the cake from the tin and cool on a wire rack.
To make sugar free date cake without a food processor
- Prepare the dates, cake tin and oven as above.
- Finely grate the apples into a bowl.
- Stir the flour and baking powder into the apples. Beat the egg, then add to the cake batter along with the milk.
- Add the drained dates and continue with the rest of the recipe.
Notes
- The cake can be made gluten-free with gluten-free flour.
- If you use self-raising flour, reduce the baking powder to half a teaspoonful.
- For a healthy date and walnut cake, add 50g roughly chopped walnuts. Stir into the mixture by hand.
- This recipe makes a smallish-sized loaf cake. It's cooked in a 450g loaf tin, also known as a 1lb loaf tin.
- If you want a large sugar-free date loaf, double the recipe quantities and bake in a 900g (2lb) loaf tin. Cook the larger cake for an additional 20 minutes.
- You can also cook a double-sized cake in a 9-inch round tin.
- I've soaked the dates in this recipe so that they are meltingly soft and delicious. If you'd prefer them a little chewier, or your dates are very soft to start with, you can omit this step.
Nutrition
Calories: 128kcalCarbohydrates: 26.5gProtein: 3.9gFat: 1.6gSaturated Fat: 0.4gFiber: 4.9gSugar: 13.6g
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