It’s sweltering here in the northeast, and in most of the country. But a steady crop of cucumbers from the vines I planted in my backyard garden this spring are helping us keep our cool.
I’ve been slicing them into pitchers of water, chopping them up into salads and raitas, and just eating them fresh off the vine, with a dash of salt rubbed into their centers.
If you’ve ever grown cucumbers, you know that they can produce too much of a good thing. This past weekend, as I wondered what else to do with all those cucumbers, I was visited by a blast from the past. Tausali, or cucumber cake.
In the India I grew up in, ovens were a rarity. Cakes were a rare treat you bought at the bakery. But what some adventurous cooks did have was an aluminum contraption that looked like a tube pan with a lid. In the bottom was a compartment that held sand. The “oven” was placed on a stove and the flame heated the sand which in turn baked the cake.
My mom had one of those contraptions, and she would sometimes bake Tausali in it.
Tausali is a rather spare yet sumptuous cake from India’s Konkan region– my dad’s native land. It contains the classic triumvirate of homemade Indian sweets: jaggery (an unrefined Indian sugar not unlike piloncillo), coconut, and cardamom. It also contains rava (sooji or cream of wheat), sometimes ghee, and — of course– cucumber. There are no leaveners here, like baking soda or baking powder. The ingredients are all mixed up and baked in that little stovetop oven. The resulting cake is dense but moist and incredibly flavorful.
My Lowfat Cucumber Cake is not Tausali– I adapted it to make it more cake-like than Tausali by using flour instead of rava, and I did add some baking soda and baking powder to help the cake rise. But I tried to stay true to the basic flavors by using jaggery as the sweetener, and by incorporating cardamom and coconut into the recipe.
To stay true to the fresh-from-the-tube-pan look of a Tausali, but to make it prettier, I baked my Cucumber Cake in a bundt pan.
The cake was delicious. The jaggery gave it a deep richness, and the cardamom was just perfect with the cucumber. If you can’t find jaggery feel free to substitute with brown sugar. The result won’t be exactly the same, but it will taste pretty darn good.This is also a very healthy cake. There is very little fat in the recipe, and it incorporates brown rice flour and whole-wheat flour — and, of course, a veggie. Because jaggery is not refined, it is also a better-for-you sweetener.Here’s the recipe. Enjoy, all!
Low-Fat Cucumber Cake, Indian-Style
Ingredients
- Dry Ingredients:
- 1 cup whole-wheat flour
- 1 cup brown rice flour
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp powdered cardamom
- Wet Ingredients:
- 2 cups very finely grated jaggery (don't leave in any lumps here)
- 3 tbsp flaxmeal mixed with 9 tbsp water
- 3/4 cup applesauce
- 1/2 cup grated coconut
- 4 tbsp canola or other vegetable oil
- 1 large cucumber (2 1/2 cups), seeded and grated
Instructions
- Whisk all of the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
- In another bowl, mix all of the wet ingredients.
- Add the wet ingredient mixture to the dry, and mix until everything comes together. Pour the batter into a bundt pan and smooth the top.
- Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 45 minutes or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.
- Unmold 10 minutes after removing from the oven. Cool thoroughly on a rack, then slice and enjoy!
Richa says
July 17, 2012 atwow.. the cake looks amazing! we have a tiny balcony and have been getting a good supply of spinach and herbs! i can imagine the abundant cucumbers in your larger garden:)
doesnt the cucumber make the cake too soggy because of the extra moisture it leaks during baking?
Vaishali says
July 18, 2012 atNo, the moisture actually helps keep the cake moist. You’d normally add some liquid to a cake anyway.
Chitra Vivek says
July 17, 2012 atLove love and love it.Question: Can I substitute Jaggery with Sugar and what will be the sub for Apple sauce. I have all other ingredients at home:)
Vaishali says
July 18, 2012 atChitra, leave out the apple sauce and substitute with more cucumber.
Manasi says
July 17, 2012 atOh my! cucumber in a cake! Who would have thunk!
Looks gorgeous.
Jaggery and cardamom, wah, kya jodi hai!
jan says
July 17, 2012 atlooks nice. I never had tausala. Will definatly make this. Can I use zucchini than cucumber, as I have big zucchini at home now.
Hope Lucy is doing great!
Vaishali says
July 18, 2012 atYes, you can definitely substitute with zucchini. You might want to follow my low-fat zucchini bread recipe– bake as a bundt cake instead of using loaf pans, and adjust baking temperature and time per the cucumber cake recipe. https://holycowvegan.net/2009/06/low-fat-zucchini-bread.html
Usha says
July 18, 2012 atOoh this cake looks so, so delicious, love the use of jaggery in this cake. This goes directly into my must try list ๐
Tina says
July 18, 2012 atGr8 idea dear..Cake looks soft and delicious..
Sowmya Karthy says
July 18, 2012 atWould love to try this… what a nice way to eat healthier… Can i bake this in a 9 inch cake pan or a 8 inch square pan? i do not have a bundt pan?
sowmya
http://nivedhanams.blogspot.in/
Vaishali says
July 18, 2012 atSowmya, sure, but you would need two pans. Divide the batter in half for each pan. You can also use a loaf pan and start checking to see if the cake is done after about 30-35 minutes.
Jane says
July 18, 2012 atRecipe looks great – I’ve been after trying more vegetable cakes recently. I think I’m going to try it with a lime flavoured icing!
Priya says
July 18, 2012 atWat a gorgeous cake,never thought of making cakes with cucumber, beautifully done.
Minnie(@thelady8home) says
July 18, 2012 atThat cake do look too delicious. Feel like taking a bite!
glutenfreehappytummy.com says
July 18, 2012 athow creative! gorgeous!!
cumincoriandercardamom says
July 18, 2012 atWe used to make cakes with putting sand in pressure cookers ๐
Poornima Nair says
July 19, 2012 atWhat an awesome cake Vaishali! Love everything in it! Bookmarked to try.
Spice up the Curry says
July 20, 2012 atI would love to give it a try.. recipe sounds amazing
chennaispice says
July 20, 2012 atI’ve never come across a cake with cucumber in it. Perfect for the summer.
Mints! says
August 25, 2012 atI just tried this with cucumbers from backyard. Oh so tasty! All the flavors have just came together perfectly. I did not have rice flour so added 1 cup of fine rava. I did not have applesauce so added same amount of grated cucumber. I mixed grated cucumbers and jaggery together and set it aside so jaggery melted nicely in it ๐
Such a keeper recipe.
Vaishali says
August 28, 2012 atMints, so happy you tried it. Thanks for the feedback– adding rava is perfect because there is rava in the original tausali.
Anonymous says
October 15, 2012 atthanks for sharing...
Anonymous says
March 2, 2013 atTausali is actually a cucumber thalipeeth made with rice fllour, from Konkan region. You have made dhondas which is a cucumber cake.
Cassia says
April 29, 2013 atI don’t have brown rice flour. Can I add more all purpose?
Vaishali says
May 2, 2013 atCassia, yes, but the texture won’t be the same.
Anonymous says
May 1, 2013 atWhat about the liquid that come out while grating cucumber?am i supposed to leave that? Or should i add that too?
Vaishali says
May 2, 2013 atAdd the liquid.
narf77 says
August 23, 2014 atAnother fantastic cake to add to my growing list of “Holy Cow!” gorgeousness. Cheers for this wonderful recipe. I am planning on growing a lot of cucumbers this year in our veggie garden and am growing them vertically this year as that is supposed to make them produce more fruit. I can’t wait to give this unique and promising recipe a go. Cheers for sharing it ๐
Vaishali Honawar says
August 25, 2014 atThanks, narf77. I usually let them climb up a trellis and they produce tons of fruit. I wish I had planted cucumbers this year.
Priscilla says
August 13, 2016 atI made your cake tonight. Turned out great! I subbed some cinnamon and ginger for part of the cardamom, and I added a vegan cream cheese/coconut milk frosting. Love the subtle taste of the cucumber. Thanks for the unique recipe. I really needed to use up some cucumbers from the garden, so this helped a bit.
Kate says
October 4, 2017 atHello Vaishali
I love your site, found while seeking inspiration for our next Vegan Baking Club, with the theme Asian Flavours. For the cucumber cake, please could you clarify what you mean by grated coconut. In the UK we bake with something called dessicated coconut which is finely grated, much less than half a grain of rice in size, quite a dry ingredient but probably soaks up moisture in the recipe. Should I be grating fresh coconut in which case, how fine. Would it matter if I omitted coconut altogether and if so what should I substitute for it. I have concerns about captive monkeys being used to pick the nuts and now try not to use it if possible. I am also going to make Gulab Jamin, can’t wait.
Vaishali says
October 4, 2017 atHi Kate, Here in the U.S. I buy unsweetened coconut in the supermarket or at the Indian grocery store, but you can certainly grate your own. You can also just try using dessicated coconut– there’s a lot of moisture in the recipe because of the cucumbers so it probably wouldn’t greatly affect the texture. I wouldn’t omit it because it would change the flavor.
Kate says
October 4, 2017 atGreat, thank you I’ll use dessicated coconut.
Do I need to peel the cucumber, I have made cakes with unpeeled courgettes before and they seemed fine. What do you recommend please.
Vaishali says
October 4, 2017 atNo need to peel! I never do. ๐
Anonymous says
October 27, 2018 athi Vaishali,
We dont get brown rice powder here. can i use white rice flour or any substitute to this