Trying to find a specific sugar free Fruit Cake Recipe
November 23, 2018 1:05 PM
My mother passed recently & as I'm in another country and all her recipes have ended up god knows where. In among those recipes was her famous "diabetic" fruit cake recipe , At least that's what she called it but it was full of so many dried fruits it was more a no added sugar recipe than diabetic friendly in any way. I'd love some help tracking this half remembered recipe from my childhood down.
I was only a kid when she made it & I"m fifty now so my memories are hazy but things I remember about the recipe. It was pretty much 75% or more of dried fruits & nuts, they weren't chopped up but kept whole so when you sliced a thin piece of cake it was almost like a stained glass window.
Besides the fruits & nuts and what I imagine was a very basic cake mix there wasn't a lot of ingredients, no cinnamon or spices, or not enough that I remember it tasting of anything else but delicious dried fruits. Maybe brandy to soak the fruit in, but I think she just plumped them in hot water. Also the recipe would have to been pretty simple easy, I love my mum but she did not have the patience for fussy recipes.
It was served in very thin slices, like half a cm thick or so as it was super rich from all the fruit.
There was no added sugar or very little as all of the sweetness came from the fruits. It used dates as one of the fruits, back when they were expensive & hard to find, I remember this being why she didn't make it often.
I believe it was cooked low & slow in the oven & had a very distinctive texture, it was soft in the middle & not cake like at all. Not like a pudding, it was very definitely a cake but super moist, stick to your fingers kind of texture on the inside but the outside would almost be hard, though I know she liked to "burn" the outsides as she was the sort to love the edges of brownies & cakes the best.
Most important of all, this did not taste like your standard Christmas Fruit cake.
I was only a kid when she made it & I"m fifty now so my memories are hazy but things I remember about the recipe. It was pretty much 75% or more of dried fruits & nuts, they weren't chopped up but kept whole so when you sliced a thin piece of cake it was almost like a stained glass window.
Besides the fruits & nuts and what I imagine was a very basic cake mix there wasn't a lot of ingredients, no cinnamon or spices, or not enough that I remember it tasting of anything else but delicious dried fruits. Maybe brandy to soak the fruit in, but I think she just plumped them in hot water. Also the recipe would have to been pretty simple easy, I love my mum but she did not have the patience for fussy recipes.
It was served in very thin slices, like half a cm thick or so as it was super rich from all the fruit.
There was no added sugar or very little as all of the sweetness came from the fruits. It used dates as one of the fruits, back when they were expensive & hard to find, I remember this being why she didn't make it often.
I believe it was cooked low & slow in the oven & had a very distinctive texture, it was soft in the middle & not cake like at all. Not like a pudding, it was very definitely a cake but super moist, stick to your fingers kind of texture on the inside but the outside would almost be hard, though I know she liked to "burn" the outsides as she was the sort to love the edges of brownies & cakes the best.
Most important of all, this did not taste like your standard Christmas Fruit cake.
There is cake or rather sweet cake in German speaking Europe called Früchtebrot or Kletzenbrot or Hutzelbrot. In some areas the fruit bread is wrapped in a thin layer of breaddough.
Here a random example
All recipes have in common that they use dried fruit and soak them, most add some unsweetened bread dough mixed with the fruit. They are then baked, not steamed. The Früchtebrot is definitely not a Christmas ppudding
The finished fruit bread is sliced thinly as you describe.
If i find an English language recipe i will post it.
posted by 15L06 at 2:38 PM on November 23, 2018
Here a random example
All recipes have in common that they use dried fruit and soak them, most add some unsweetened bread dough mixed with the fruit. They are then baked, not steamed. The Früchtebrot is definitely not a Christmas ppudding
The finished fruit bread is sliced thinly as you describe.
If i find an English language recipe i will post it.
posted by 15L06 at 2:38 PM on November 23, 2018
Well I searched all my Women's Weekly and family recipes and couldn't find a sugarless one. I got to miss my mum a lot though. I googled CWA sugarless Christmas cakes and found this Three Ingredient Fruitcake which sounded plausible. Good luck finding blackcurrants in the Midwest; barberries could work well. Have fun! Fruit cake is the best.
posted by firstdrop at 9:39 PM on November 23, 2018
posted by firstdrop at 9:39 PM on November 23, 2018
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posted by Iris Gambol at 2:16 PM on November 23, 2018