Upside-down Persimmon Date cake

And you thought only Popeye could load on iron, with all his spinach. Even I CAN !! With lot of dates and blackstrap molasses. With all the mejdool dates, who wants sugar? And , it is eggless too. Ended up being eggless, as I ran out of them. Well, wheat has some protein too , though  not as wholesome. 😉

Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients
1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 cups milk
13 mejdool dates
2 Persimmons
1/3 cup olive oil ( can be substituted with apple sauce)
2 tbsp ghee( or butter)
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp cinnamon  ( you can use whatever spice you want)
1/2 cup Walnuts ( optional)
2 tbsp unsulphured blackstrap molasses

Preparation:
1. Soak the dates in 1 cup of warmed milk. After 10 minutes, blend them well in a blender. Slice the persimmons into rounds.
2. Chop the walnuts coarsely.
3. Mix the flour,baking soda, baking powder and all the spices with salt in a bowl. Add the walnuts to this dry mix.
4.Mix well the oil, the blended dates , molasses and the remaining 1 cup milk.
5. Take a cast iron sauce pan and melt the butter(ghee) and add the brown sugar. Wait till the sugar fully melts. Let it cool a bit. ( A minute or two)
6. Place the persimmons in the pan. ( If you are not using a cast-iron pan, melt the butter and sugar ,caramelize it and transfer it to your baking bowl and place the persimmons in that)
7.Mix the wet mixture and the dry mixture and pour it on top of the persimmons.
8. Bake it at 350F in a preheated oven
9. Mine took 20 minutes in a convection oven,using a cast iron pan,which was already a bit hot. It can take anywhere between 20- 35 minutes depending on the shape of your bowl. Wait till a fork comes out clean when it is getting baked.

Variations
1. I actually used regular whole wheat flour( instead of pastry flour) and had to add a bit of water and just make sure my batter had the cake consistency.
2.You can use 1 egg and reduce the milk by 1/4 cup
3.You can use butter instead of olive oil
4.I wanted to add a tsp of rose water or vanilla essence, which I forgot. I am sure the rose water would add an unique taste to it.
5. Just taste the mixture once before baking, to make sure the sugar level is up to your taste. If not, add a bit of sugar.

Voila!! An awesome sweet treat, without much added sugar…