Egg-less Tunisian Date, Nut, Chocolate Loaf

BM#12: W2, Day2: I love Dates. I love Nuts. I love Chocolate. With all these three combined, this loaf cake has made me yearn for more. Yum-O! It also has a little bit of coffee for that additional kick. So one could have this in the morning too. Base recipe is from here.
Correction: 1 Tsp Baking Soda, I missed typing it which I have added.

For Your Ears: Feast your eyes on the cake( where the "fruit of the desert" is the star ingredient) while listening to the song "Desert Rose"

Ingredients:

• 1-1/4 Cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 3/4 Cup Toasted and Coarsely Chopped Walnuts
• 1 Cup(18-20#s) Finely Chopped and pitted Tunisian Dates "Deglet Noor"
• 1/4 Cup + 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 2 Tbsp Butter + a little more for greasing the pan, at room temperature
• 3/4 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
• 1/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
• 1/4 Cup Cocoa Powder
• 1 Tsp Baking Soda
• 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 Tsp Salt
• 1/8 Tsp All Spice
• 3 Tbsp Low-fat Milk
• 1 Tbsp Orange Zest
• 1 Cup Hot Water +1 to 1-1/4 Tbsp Instant Coffee Granules(Nescafe/Folgers/Bru) for making "Strong Coffee"
• 1 Tbsp Flaxseed Meal + 3 Tbsp Hot Water

Procedure:

• Make strong coffee with Coffee Granules and a cup of hot water.

• Sift the flour along with cocoa powder in a bowl. Add the salt to it. 

• Chop the dates and add it to the hot coffee.

• Lid the pan and let the dates get mushy in the hot liquid. Meanwhile line a 8-1/2" X 4-1/2" loaf pan with aluminum foil and grease with a little butter.

• 15-20 minutes later, add the baking soda, orange zest to the soaked date mixture. Let it sit for 5 more minutes.

• Combine sugar, oil,butter milk and vanilla extract.

• Add the dry mixture and the flaxseed meal mixture.

• Lastly add the chopped walnuts into the cake batter.

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and bake at this temperature for about 45- 55 minutes or until the tooth pick inserted into the center comes clean. 

• Cool completely prior to cutting and serving.

Check out my Dutch Cocoa, Banana and Nut (Quick) Bread:

Sending this to Srivalli's Chocolate Mela

Enjoy!