Spiced Persimmon Cake

Persimmons are generally light yellow-orange to dark red-orange in color, and depending on the species, They are high in glucose, with a balanced protein profile, and possess various medicinal and chemical uses. When eaten fresh, the skin is usually cut/peeled off and the fruit is often cut into quarters or eaten whole like an apple.

How to choose Persimmons:

Choose persimmons with deep red undertones and are round, plump, have glossy and smooth skin. Choose ripe persimmons if you want to eat immediately. Store them in the refrigerator when ripe. Firm and raw persimmons can be ripen at room temperature in a paper bag with an apple or banana.

Ingredients:

*Whole wheat bleached flour - 1 cup
Persimmon fruit- 2 in number and chopped
Curd - 1/4 cup
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Baking Soda - 1/2 tsp
Nutmeg powder- 1tsp
Cinnamon powder - 1tsp
Salt -1/4 tsp
**Egg white - 1
Vanilla essence - 1tsp
Lime juice -1/2 tsp
Milk 1tbsp
Vegetable oil - 1/4 cup
Sugar - 2/3 cup

Brown sugar - 2/3 cup
Raisins - handful
Walnuts, chopped - handful

Method:

• Pre- heat oven at 350 degree Fahrenheit and grease the baking pan and keep it aside
• Combine all dry ingredients [except sugar] and sieve it through at least 2 times
• Blend egg white, oil, yogurt, sugar, vanilla and lime juice with a beater for 1 minute at medium speed
• Fold in the dry ingredients and mix gently without running the mixer
• Add milk if the batter looks dry and mix with hand mixer for 2 minutes at medium speed [the batter should not be runny. It is on the thicker/denser side]
• Throw in chopped persimmon, raisins and walnuts and pour the batter in a greased cake or muffin pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the tooth-pick inserted comes out clean [for some reason, this time it took 45 minutes for tooth pick to come out clean]
• Let it cool on a cooling tray for 1 hr before slicing

Note:

• I felt that this time my cake was slightly dry, though hubby didn't felt so :)....I think adding little more oil or some apple sauce would have made it more moist for my palate
  
• *You can use 1/2 cup regular whole flour + 1/2 cup all purpose flour [maida] also
• ** Make it Eggless by substituting 1 egg white with 1/2 cup thick curd or yogurt

Gadgets Used: 

I used Cuisinart CSB-77 Smart Stick Hand Blender with Whisk and Chopper Attachments to blend liquid ingredients and Hamilton Beach 62682R Hand Mixer with Snap-On Case, White to mix cake batter.


Event Participation

• Cakes-n-Cookies events both hosted by Sara's Corner
• ‘Food for 7 stages of Life – 'Desserts and Ice creams’ by Radhika of Sourashtra Kitchen and Sudeshna of Cook Like A Bong
• Show me your cake by Divya
• It's time to Jingle hosted by Asankhana.

Cake books! 

Start A Cake Business Today- read this book to get your business started
Wilton Decorating Cakes Book- get step by step instructions in cake decoration
50 Easy Party Cakes- this books teaches to create cakes which look more like sculpture than regular cake
Eggless Desserts- a book by Tarla Dalal where she creates desserts without eggs and gelatin