I made this cake, and wanted to share my recipe here:
Preheat oven to 180'C (fan oven)
Use a loaf tin liner
Mix together in a bowl:
2 mashed bananas
50g chopped dried apricots
50g seed mix
50g sultanas
100g glace cherries
75g jumbo oats
75g ground almonds
75g wholemeal flour/coconut flour (depending on your preference)
50ml olive oil
capful of vanilla essence (although maybe almond essence might be nice as an alternative)
1 egg (optional)
Press the mixture into the loaf tin and bake for 45 mins or until brown on top and a knife/skewer comes out clean.
N.B. This cake has got sugar in it from the dried fruits and glace cherries, but it doesn't have any 'added sugar' - I have adapted my recipe from a previous one by Ruth_Canal_Runner, so would like to thank her for helping me to achieve a cake that I find really tasty and I find it fits well into my healthy eating plan, as it makes me feel I can have my cake and eat it!
I'd love to try some alternative recipes for 'no added sugar' cakes, so if anyone knows any really good ones, I'd love to hear about them.
Lowcal
p.s. Flavourfiend has kindly worked out the calories for this cake, and the total cake comes to 2420 calories, and if you cut it into 10 slices, then it is 242 calories per delicious slice!
Variation: More recently, I've been swapping the 75g ground almonds and 75g wholemeal flour/coconut flour and simply used 150g of spelt wholemeal flour, and it's made a really good consistency and flavour.
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Awww, thanks Ruth, I find that very flattering that you are going to try my version. You inspired me to adapt and make it from your original recipe - and I am indebted to you for that, as I really like it so much!
I'm not sure - I think the bananas give it some moisture, but maybe if you increased the oil quantity, then it might be ok? To be honest, I don't really pick up much 'banana taste' in the cake - so the actual bananas don't appear to contribute much taste, probably quite subtle infact - it's more like the taste of a fruit cake than a 'banana cake' - so you might possibly like it 'with' the bananas? But worth an experiment possibly to try it without.
Good luck, if you do try it - and let me know how you get on.
I didn't have any eggs available when I made it, but usually I do - interesting that it didn't make any noticeable difference to the taste - not that I noticed anyway! But it would add some more moisture to the cake, which you could probably do with as you're cutting down on the banana. I think using just 1 banana would be good potentially.
Try replacing the bananas with grated apples, they would add the same bulk and moisture and fruity flavour But I'm not sure what amount. Maybe one large apple, e.g. a Bramley. I grate the whole apple including skin (but not pips)
Also, as you've given up sugar, it might be better to miss out the glace cherries, as they are obviously relatively sugary! Sometimes I make it without them, and it's still delicious.
Ok i will order the ingredients with my shopping next Tuesday and give it a go with my own few tweaks and let you know if it edible or not, could do with a slice of your now tho. x
Oh this sounds lovely, haven't got any dried apricots though. Which seeds did u put in? Oh n please forgive me I haven't been posting my weight as I have had a difficult couple of weeks. I will restart plan as of Monday and post.
Thanks for commenting on the cake. You could substitute apricots for another product e.g. 'dates' - Ruth's version has dates rather than apricots.
I usually use 'mixed seeds' from the Coop, which include pumpkin, sunflower and pine nuts, but the actual seeds I used this time were another version (again from the Coop) which are called 'Mixed Fruit & Seeds' and consist of chopped apricots, raisins, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and dried goji berries). I have previously make a cake using just pumpkin seeds as the seed choice. I think it works well with any type. Ruth used Sunflower seeds in her version.
Sorry to hear you've had a difficult couple of weeks, and I really hope your weekend goes well and that you can have a good week going forward. It's great to hear you're planning to re-start the NHS 12 week plan from Monday, and that you'll be posting, as it will be great to have you back on board.
I'm so glad you did that calculation, as I also did a calculation too - and I worked out it was 2,067.5 calories per cake, and therefore I estimated that 10 slices meant 206 calories per slice, but I think your calculation may be more accurate at 242 calories per slice, and I've just re-checked my figures, and realise that I had missed out the calories for one of the ingredients, so I will definitely go with your figures. Many thanks! (Infact I'll edit the post to put the calories per slice figure up there, as I think people will want to know that information).
Good to know it's lower in calories than your Auntie's recipe - and I would be interested to hear how you think the taste compares, if and when you do try it.
It is a very easy cake to make. I usually do 2 cakes each time, and I will cut and freeze portions of the second cake.
I also know you don't include the cherries when you make a cake, as members of your family don't like them, which makes me feel sorry for you that you're missing out!
Great that you're putting it aside for later - and hopefully things will be more in balance for you very soon. I hope you have a lovely weekend, and it's lovely of you to comment on the tasty cake.
I am just going to bed now, and I expect you are starting your day, so hope you have a great day!
Looks delicious will give it a try. I am looking for sugar free recipes as well i did think of making cupcakes but adding stewed apple without the sugar
I think your idea to make cupcakes using added stewed apple as a substitute for sugar would be a great idea. I can see that Ruth_Canal_Runner suggested grating apple (skin and pulp included) as a substitute for the banana in the fruit cake recipe, so having stewed apple should work well too - I've not tried that myself, but it sounds like it would be good.
Do let me know how they go if you do make them, and maybe share your recipe if you want to - I love collecting new recipes to try out.
Thanks for your lovely comment! You could always have 2 slices - it would be equivalent to the calories in 1 slice of Flavourfiend's Auntie's recipe then. So not too bad.
242 calories per slice of a total of 2420 calories? In which world is this "Low Calories"? The use of glaze cherries contributes with refined sugars for sure, and along with the dried apricot, both have added sulphites, which is used as preservative, unless using the organic versions of those dried fruits without any chemicals, which won't have any colorants either.
Thanks for your comments. I am not saying it's a 'low calorie' cake, although I think it's lower in calories per slice than some other types of cake. I purposefully described it as 'Tasty Cake' not low calorie cake.
Personally, I haven't used organic ingredients, mainly as I budget - but I agree that ideally it might be healthier to use organic versions of the dried fruits (in terms of your comments about sulphites and sugar content etc), and I'm sure people can decide which ones they would like to use.
You've made some good points, and I'm not claiming that this cake is sugar free - as I know the glace cherries are very sugary, which is why for those out there who want to reduce their sugar - don't add the cherries. I like the recipe as it doesn't have any refined sugar added - and I know that many recipes do have that. I wanted to try out something without resorting to a bag of sugar. I also like the recipe as it has plenty of fibre from the oats, and wholemeal flour, and fruits.
The great thing about the recipe is that you can alter quite a few ingredients to suit your own personal tastes and food preferences.
Personally, I don't consider 242 calories per slice of cake to be too excessive.
I hope you have a good weekend.
Lowcal
p.s. I've just edited this because I've noticed on the newsfeed that seeing my name (i.e. Lowcal) underneath the post title may look as if it says 'Lowcal Tasty Cake' - so I can understand you might have assumed I was saying the cake was 'Lowcal' - I chose my name (Lowcal) about 3 years ago, and the reason was I was trying to describe myself so that it would encourage me to be aware of the calories in things and eat better quality ones, and less of them than I had done previously (as I used to overeat massively and was consequently extremely overweight) - but actually within an average day I usually eat quite a few calories, so 'Lowcal' probably doesn't accurately describe me as a person. I am however at a healthy BMI now, and I do still eat cake most days.
Great! I'm glad you found that answer - there are lots of types of seed mixes out there, or using one kind (depending on your preferences) - it's nice to try different things out. That's the beauty of this cake.
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