Date Apple Cake

If you see a 12-year old driving a car on the highway, what would your reaction be?  How would the authorities respond to this act if bylaw a person is allowed to drive only when he is 18 years after holding a valid drivers’ license?  Knowing that this 12-year old is endangering his life and those of others on the road, as a responsible citizen, what should you do?  I am guessing you would each in the same way like me – alert authorities, the responsible guardian/parents of the child and if possible, perhaps even ground the child and vehicle till authorities arrive and take charge.

The legal age to sell cigarettes to a person in Belgium is 16 years old.  How many of us have seen this law broken time and again – children below 16 years come into possession of tobacco and openly flaunt disobedience of the law.  At bus stops and in front of schools you must have often seen children as young as 10 years puffing smoke.  As responsible citizens, how do we have to react to these circumstances?  Ignore the law being broken?

Preparation Time: 55 minutes

Serves: 8

Ingredients:

½ cup white sugar

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup shortening

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of salt

1 teaspoon dried ginger powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon powder

1 cup unsweetened apple sauce

1 cup dates, deseeded and chopped

Method:

1. Cream sugar and shortening; dissolve soda in apple sauce and add to the sugar mixture.  
2. Sift the ginger, cinnamon powder, flour and salt.  Add to the wet mixture and mix well.  
3. Now stir in the dates.  
4. Grease a loaf pan and pour the batter into it.  
5. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees C for about 40 minutes or till a toothpick comes out clean when pricked in the middle of the cake.