This is a go-to recipe that my husband whips up often. It's simple, quick and yummy. But normally it contains a cup of sugar and golden syrup, so it's not so healthy, and a definite no-no during our 100 days sugar free.
So we tried it out without any sugar to see if we could still make it work. It's such a quick cake to whip up if you're having guests over, it's versatile and tastes great so a sugar free, healthier version is just what we need.
BASE Ingredients:
2 cups SR flour
1/4 cup honey
2 eggs
roughly 1 cup of milk - we never measure this, just add it gradually until the consistency is 'cake like'...
Fruit and flavour: (These ingredients are variable - choose your own combinations).
1 cup sultanas
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
1/4 cup slivered almonds
Method:
Preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius.
Basically just chuck it all in and mix, adding the milk gradually like I said until it is a thick cake batter consistency. So easy. This cake can take literally 5 minutes to mix up.
Pour into a loaf tin.
Bake it for about 50 minutes, until it's golden on the outside and cooked in the middle.
We used to have problems with it being too dark on the outside and still gluggy in the middle, but we realised we had the oven up too high. If you still have problems, put some aluminium foil/tin foil over it for the last 20 minutes or so, to stop it getting too brown while the middle cooks.
Variations:
You can add any combinations dried fruit and nuts you like - just make it up to about 1-2 cups worth of fruit and nuts. Keep in mind sultanas and apricots are good for adding sweetness to this sugarless cake.
E.g.
- Sultanas, currants, apricot, slivered almonds and shredded coconut
- Or Sultanas, dried figs, pistachios and white chocolate chips
- Or Sultanas, dried cranberries, dried apricots, pistachios and dark chocolate chips
Other additions - this is a super versatile cake, so experiment...
E.g.
- Substitute half of the white flour for wholemeal
- Add in a few tablespoons of oats or oatmeal
- Add a few tablespoons of LSA for an omega 3 and protein boost
- Mix through 1 mashed banana plus half a tsp of bicarb soda
Serving suggestion: Best served warm with margarine or butter. Yum!
The texture of this is definitely a bit different to the sugar version, but if you hadn't tried the other version you wouldn't even know. It still tastes sweet and delicious.
Happy sugarless baking.
PS
If you want to know the 'sugared' version, it's basically the same, just instead of the honey, add 2 TBS of golden syrup and 1 cup of raw sugar, and reduce it to 1 egg.
