Water Chestnut Flour (Shingada), Almonds, Walnut and Date Cake (Sugar and Egg free)

Recently we celebrated my mom's birthday. She is a diabetic and can no longer enjoy sweet desserts. All through our growing years, she unfailingly and enthusiastically baked a variety of delicious cakes for us at home. So, I wanted to do something for her this time around. So I literally thought of all healthy things she could eat and baked them into a cake, and that is how this cake was created :) It is diabetic friendly: sugar free, gluten free, and egg free (vegetarian friendly) healthy cake.

Ingredients: Water Chestnut Flour (Shingada or Singoda): 1 cup, Almonds: 5-10, walnuts: 5-10, dates: about 20-25, yogurt: 1 tbsp, baking soda: 1/2 tsp, baking powder: 1 tsp, vanilla essence: 2 tsp, cardamoms: 5-6 pods crushed (optional).

Procedure: Soak Almonds, walnuts and dates in milk for about an hour. Grind to a fine paste (along with the milk they were soaked in - remove excess milk  while grinding - it should be about 3/4th cup while grinding). Grease a baking pan. Sift the Water Chestnut Flour (Shingada or Singoda), add baking powder and ground paste and yogurt. Mix thoroughly. Add vanilla essence and crushed cardamom pods (optional) and mix. Now add baking soda. Mix well and pour into greased pan (I used a loaf pan) and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 35-40 mins. Insert toothpick and check if the cake is done. If not bake for additional 5 mins on 300 degrees F. Let it cool. When the sides of the cake start leaving the pan, flip it over in a flat dish. Cake is ready to enjoy.

Tip: This cake can be made with sugar too if desired for non-diabetic people. It is really healthy. You can add 1/4th cup sugar or 1/2 cup condensed milk since it already has dates. Adjust sugar/condensed milk quantity as per desired level of sweetness. 

Till my next post, take care everyone.