Vegan Peach Cake with Dates and Ginger Oil-Free Fruit Sweetened

The perfect cake when peaches are in season and you need a no fuss dessert for outdoor get-togethers. Made with whole plant-based ingredients, and no added oils or refined sweeteners, this cake is delightfully moist and nourishing. Refreshing juicy peaches are warmly embraced by lusciously sweet soothing dates and the warmth of ginger.

WHY I LOVE IT

Every year come June, I go into a peach frenzy. Summer fruits are an ideal whole food plant-based snack, so I like to stay well stocked while they’re around. Peaches are a particularly versatile summer fruit. Fabulous on their own, they can also be added to cereal, made into salsa, cooked on the grill or mixed into pancake batter, and can even liven up savory summer salads. The peachy possibilities are endless. But I’m a cake person, first and foremost, so I had to see if I could come up with a cake recipe where fresh summer peaches could shine as the superstars they truly are. After a couple of tries, I came up with a recipe I love. Exclusively fruit sweetened with no added fats, this cake is healthy enough to have for breakfast or as an energizing snack. It’s also sweet enough to be served for dessert, and can be especially festive when topped with one of my healthy frostings. I adore the contrasting textures—sticky sweet chunks of dates against dazzling juicy peaches. Ginger and cardamom are two of my favorite spices. Both are subtle enough to enhance the delicate flavor of peaches. The combination of flavors in this cake captures summer’s soothing warmth. The most grounding and mysterious background flavor note comes from prunes which are processed into the liquid ingredients. This moist sturdy cake is a winner, great for making ahead of time and packing into a picnic basket. I hope you like it as much as I do!

MAKE YOUR OWN OAT FLOUR

If you want to use store bought oat flour, that’s fine. But making your own oat flour is easy, fast and economical. All you need is rolled oats, old fashioned or quick, and a food processor or high speed blender. Place your oats in your processor or blender and pulse until you get flour. Don’t over process your oat flour because it will become sticky and not work as well in your recipes. As far as flour texture goes, oat flour that’s a little coarse works better for most types of baking. Don’t try to make too much at a time. Small batches, no more than a cup and a half at a time, are better. I usually only process the amount I’m about to use in a recipe. One cup of oats makes approximately one cup of oat flour.

DRIED FRUITS FOR SUGAR-FREE OIL-FREE BAKING

Dates are my favorite whole food plant-based sweetening ingredient. Here they are used in two ways: sliced and folded into the batter along with chopped peaches, and as part of a dried fruit smoothy, which locks in moisture making added oil unnecessary, while also sweetening and binding. In this particular cake, prunes are also included in the smoothy, adding to the complexity of flavor while bolstering nutrient content.

Pro tip: chop your pitted dates and prunes before measuring them, checking to make sure that there are no pits and hard bits in your fruit. More often than not, especially when it comes to dates, pitted means mostly pitted, and there will always be a few hard stems. If you chop or slice dates and prunes before measuring them, you can inspect them for hard bits at the same time. Chopping before measuring also allows you to pack your fruit more tightly into a measuring cup which gives you more consistent results.

BLENDER OR FOOD PROCESSOR NEEDED

You’ll need a blender or food processor for this recipe in order to create the fruit smoothie that does so many great things for this cake! A high speed blender is best, if you have one, but if you don’t you can use a regular blender or a food process. Electronic appliances like food processors and high blenders allow us to quickly and easily harness the power of whole plant foods, eliminating the need for ingredients like oil, sugar, white flour and eggs which are calorie dense and comparatively low in nutrients. In this recipe all the wet ingredients are processed together with the prunes and half of the dates. With a high speed blender the processing usually takes about one minute. A conventional blender or food processor takes a bit longer. Be patient. The important thing is to have a mostly smooth blend of the ingredients. It’s ok to still see small specs of dried fruit.

CREATING THE CAKE BATTER

My technique is unusual in that I incorporate whole dried fruits into the liquid ingredients, something that wouldn’t be possible without electronic appliances. The rest of my recipe proceeds in a way that’s pretty typical of traditional baking. I start with combining the dry ingredients. After that I add the wet ingredients, most of which have been blended together into a single smoothie. Finally, I fold in the chunky ingredients, chopped peaches and more sliced dates.

Note that I treat ground flaxseed as one of my dry ingredients instead of mixing it with water to make ‘flax egg’ as many plant-based recipes suggest. I just think pre-mixing ground flaxseed with water is an unnecessary step. Once flaxseed comes into contact with moisture, it turns into a binder just as easily whether it’s by itself or pre-mixed with the other dry ingredients.

CAKE PAN(S)

This recipe can be used to make a single layer 8 inch round cake. If you’re planning to frost it and want to create a small two layer cake, you could also bake it in two 6 inch pans. You do you! This batter would also be great for muffins, a square cake or loaf. You could even double the recipe and turn it into a big two layer frosted cake.

STICK PROOFING CAKE PANS

Home baking requires time and effort. The last thing anyone wants is for the fruit of all that effort to end up falling apart because it got stuck to a pan or baking sheet. Using oil or butter to grease pans is the old fashioned way to get things not to stick. It works, especially if you also add a layer of flour or some other starch, and I still do it sometimes. But because I prefer to avoid using added fats in my cooking, I like to use parchment paper liners whenever possible. You can get parchment paper and baking cups just about anywhere and that’s all you need for baking sheets and muffin pans. Cake and loaf pans are tricker because pre-formed liners for these pans are not available at most local grocery stores. You can make your own parchment paper liners by carefully folding parchment paper to fit the pan. However, I prefer getting preformed liners online. These liners not only help me avoid using added fats, they also save time.

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