Tamarind and fresh ginger cake (vegan version)

This time of the year I constantly feel like something spicy. This cake came out very Asian - with intense sweet dark muscovado sugar and sour tamarind. Fresh ginger, cinnamon and black pepper create a spicy explosion, but there is almost no texture, it disappears right after it gets into your mouth.


It all started from the tamarind puree I had left after making phad thai. I really like how it tastes - something in between fruit and vegetable, sour with South East Asian twist. Then was a new loaf cake pan that a good friend just gave me. Finally, I was flipping through David Lebovitz's Ready for dessert and came across his Fresh ginger cake. Here it was - of course! - why not use fresh ginger in a cake instead of all time candied and powdered ginger? 

You do not necessarily need an accompaniment for it. It's fine on its own plus a cup of tea. However in Moscow it's now persimmon season. I have to say I adore this fruit. So I simply skinned and pitted a couple of persimmons and pureed them in a blender with a few drops of lemon juice. The sauce which came out nicely complemented the cake. All in all it's almost nothing to do - 20 minutes and you cand stop working and start smelling the aromas coming out of your oven.

Tamarind and fresh ginger cake (vegan version) (inspired by Fresh ginger cake by David Lebovitz)

175 g flour

½ tea spoon ground cinnamon

¼ tea spoon ground cloves (optional)

1/4 tea spoon freshly ground black pepper

2 tea spoons baking powder

60 g fresh ginger
90 g dark muscovado sugar
100 g white sugar
125 ml vegetable oil
120 ml water
50 g tamarind puree

Peel the ginger, chop it into 2 cm pieces and puree in a blender. Add some of the water to help it blend - you should get quite a fine puree with no pieces. Mix the muscovado sugar with the rest of the water (warm) and make sure there are no large lumps of sugar. Add the ginger puree, white sugar, oil and tamarind and mix to combine.

Mix the flour with spices and baking powder. Add half of the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, mix slightly. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix till combined. Do not overmix the batter, just make sure there are no big lumps of flour.

Slightly oil a loaf pan. Line it with baking paper (this will make it much easier to take the cake out). Bake at 175C for 35 minutes, till a wooden toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Take the cake out of the oven, let it rest of 3 minutes and take out of the pan. Serve warm.

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My first Pad Thai

Spicy hot cake with sticky toffee sauce

Banana upside down mini cakes (vegan version)
Apple and walnut muffins (vegan version)

London food: a personal guide

Must try Singapore fruits

My cookbooks shelf