I normally bake a WFPB cake around Christmas every year. And, I must admit, it has always turned out extremely well. The credit must go to Hari, who always gets it perfect the first time. This year, I wanted to bake a plum cake – except that I had no plums at home! And they are not in season too. The Indian season for plums is April to June. I therefore decided to substitute plums with apples, which are plentifully available just now. The inspiration for the recipe came from ElaVegan (elavegan.com). But it did take some effort to make the recipe free of all processed and refined ingredients. The end-product was a super success!

Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
1 1/2 cups oats flour
3/4 cup nuts of choice, ground (I used almonds, walnuts, cashews)
1 1/2 cups date paste
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
A pinch of salt
Wet Ingredients
2/3 cup coconut milk
1/3 cup applesauce
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla essence
Topping
3-4 apples, sliced
3 tsp date syrup
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C
Line the cake tray with parchment paper
Wash and de-seed the apples
Slice them and arrange at the bottom of the cake tray
Drizzle 3 tbsp of date syrup on them
Set aside
To make the cake batter, combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl
Stir until there are no lumps
In a separate bowl, combine all the wet ingredients
Stir/ whisk well
Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients
Stir/whisk well
Evenly spread the batter, a little at a time, into the baking tray
Bake for 35 minutes or till it passes the toothpick test
Remove from oven and allow the cake to cool for 10-15 minutes
Invert on a platter and gently peel off the parchment paper
Cool for 10 minutes more before slicing the cake
Serve the cake as is or with vegan whipped cream/ice-cream
Enjoy!