Eggless Date n Walnut Cake

I am so happy that my blog has initiated my cousin into the beautiful world of baking :) Baking is something that can be addictive, for me it is the most personal way to share some great food moments..an evening of tea with close buddies and a freshly baked tea cake is an evening well spent :) Of late I have been trying to do more and more of eggless baking as I don't have to worry then of who to feed the goodies to :)) And yes , the idea to try this cake came from a recent trip to the mall where a very smart sales lady tried to sell me a face cream made from dates but priced soooooooo steep that I thought.. I might as well find ways to eat more dates :)))

Ingredients (makes 8-10 pieces)

1/2 tin (200 gms ) condensed milk
50 gms butter, room temperature
50 ml milk
3/4 cup flour
1 tablespoon cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup dates ,pitted

1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

1. Soak the dates in one cup of lukewarm water for half hour.
2. Pre-heat oven to 250 degrees (actual baking temperature will be 175 degrees)
3.With an electrical mixer, beat the condensed milk and the butter for 3-4 minutes till creamy in texture
4.At speed 1 of the beater, mix in the milk and the vanilla essence.
5.Sieve the flour,cocoa,baking powder and baking soda all together.
6.Beat in the flour mixture,adding little bit at a time . Continue beating for 3-4 minutes.
7.Drain off most of the water the dates are soaked in and grind the dates into a pulp.
8.Fold in this pulp into the cake batter and stir in the walnuts as well.
9. Pour the batter into a greased tin (I used a 5X7 rectangular inches tray) and bake at 175degrees in the center rack for around 40 minutes  or till a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
10.Serve warm freshly baked..