Vitality Cake

Vitality Cake

If you only ever make one cake, make it this one! It really is one of my favourite cakes. (I think I may say that a lot!? But really it is, definitely in my top 5!) It is certainly the cake I make the most… and everybody who has tried it loves it! Although it is cake it just feels like a healthy treat, made with wholemeal flour and packed with healthy ingredients. It’s a great cake for runners, full of nutrient rich seeds, nuts and fruit and it contains no added fat or sugars, only the healthy plant oils in the nuts and seeds and natural fruit sugars. Because of this it won’t keep as well as fruit cake & is best eaten in 2 to 3 days. It is tasty eaten warm if you can’t wait to tuck in! It is a dense moist cake that is filling and nourishing great after a run or when you are out on a long walk. It would be interesting to hear from ultra-runners as I’m sure it would be a good thing to eat on an endurance race. Maybe some of the Vegan Runners Endure 24 team should give this a try and let us know how they get on?

Ingredients
Date Puree
  • 2 cups of (250g) stoned dates
  • 1 ¾ cups (300ml) water
Cake
  • 1 ¼ cups (185g) whole wheat flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tblsp cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp mixed spice
  • ¼ tsp nutmeg
  • 3 ½ cups (500g) any dried fruit (Sultanas, raisins, chopped apricots or prunes. If the fruit is hard soak for a couple of hours.)
  • ½ cup (75g) seeds (sunflower, sesame, linseed, pumpkin.)
  • ½ cup (80g) ground almonds
  • Juice of 1 orange & 1 lemon

Oven 140c/275F/Gas 1

The one thing I like about this recipe is it is different every time you make it. I actually use 3 cups of fruit & 1 cup of seeds & it worked very well. I also like to use cranberries too but that is my personal tweaks!)

Grease & line the base of a 23cm round cake tin or 23cm x 30cm rectangular tin.

To make the date puree, put the dates in a pan with the water & simmer for 10 minutes or until meltingly soft. Cool then puree with a blender. (I cheat & use Whitworth’s Chopped Dates & then no chopping or pureeing is necessary.)

Sift the flour, baking powder, cocoa and spices. Add the fruit, seeds and nuts.

Mix in the date puree, lemon & orange juice. If it still seems a bit stiff & dry you can add a little soya or your preferred plant based mylk. Spread in the prepared pan & bake for about 1-1 ¼ hours until firm on top & the skewer comes out clean. Remove from oven & stand the tin on a wire rack. Once cool remove the cake from the tin and wrap in parchment & foil to keep moist.

vitalityCake 2

vitalityCake 1

Thank you to Lisa Fabry of Divine Vegan Deserts for permission to use her recipe.

http://divinevegan.com/

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