Cake update

Cake...

The cake was absolutely fine [still is, it's lasting longer than expected!] - it's really moist, but is properly cooked, and neither David nor I think it tastes particularly sugar-free or gluten-free.

It's actually nicer than the last cake we had at a tea-room, so that's a real plus; I worry that not having sugar/being wheat/gluten-free will make it not as good as "proper" cake, but when it tastes better, that's a huge boost to the self-confidence...

The banana comes through nicely in the flavour, and the level of sweetness; not a sweet cake like some, but perfectly OK.  I think it's made it a bit heavier, doubling the quantity of banana, but it's still not as dense as banana bread can be.

Adding the extra dried fruit makes a difference too, and it being moist elevates it above a lot of fruit cakes (even those sold commercially), so I'm happy with the results.

I still worry that the use of gluten-free flour is making it more solid than a traditional cake, but then a fruit cake can often be quite heavy.

All round, I'll accept the recipe for now, and as each slice only contains about a quarter of a banana and roughly a quarter of a handful of sultanas/cranberries, it means I get a "hit" of sweet stuff without eating anything sweetened; result!

Intolerance cake!

I'm currently following [loosely] a non-wheat/gluten, non-cow-dairy, non-sugar eating regime (what used to be known as a 'diet', but that word has since become synonymous with weight-loss, and that's not why I'm doing it; although that would be a bonus!), but am missing cake...

So, as I'm allowed some fruit (including the occasional banana), I've been experimenting on making sugar-free [as in sucrose/sweetener] cakes using wheat-alternative flours.

I did try Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's sidekick Tim's lemon trickle mash cake, substituting very ripe bananas for the sugar, and omitting the topping.

It was OK, and David really liked it, but I found the ground almonds gave it a slightly 'gritty' texture, and I don't always have leftover mash lying around!

So the next attempt was a 2-egg "pound cake" [apparently that's the US name for what I just used to know as "cake"; Wikipedia says we English call is "sponge" or "Madeira" cake, but those conjure something else up for me]

I think an actual pound cake must be enormous - my Christmas cake is only a 'half-pound' cake.

The way I always made them was to use the eggs instead of weights, so instead of 4oz each of: butter, sugar, eggs & flour, the process uses 3-eggs' weight of butter, sugar & flour, plus the eggs themselves. That way it never matters how big or small your eggs are, and you don't have to weigh out 4oz [or whatever weight you choose] of eggs - always a fun challenge!

Except, of course, growing up in a low-sugar household it was 2-eggs' worth or less of sugar.

The first one I tried was pretty good; sadly, using the gluten/wheat-free flour meant that the cake didn't stay risen, but it tasted OK.

Still not quite sweet enough for my sugar-deprived palate, so I doubled the quantity of bananas and added extra dried fruit.

Haven't tasted the latest effort, so I don't know yet whether it works, but here is the recipe if you're interested...  And obviously I'm going to use whatever dried fruit I have to hand, but happened to have sultanas & cranberries.

Ingredients

• 2 eggs' weight of: goats' butter at room temperature
• 4 eggs' weight of very ripe bananas
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 eggs' weight of wheat & gluten-free flour [rice/potato/tapioca/natural gum]
• 2 eggs' weight of sultanas
• 1 egg's weight of dried cranberries [the kind without added sugar; you have to search for them!]
• 6 tbsp calvados
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 3 tsp mixed spice
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon

Method

1. Put the sultanas & cranberries in a small saucepan with the calvados and simmer until all the liquid is absorbed.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool [this happens for me whilst I am doing the other steps, but don't add hot to the cake mix]
2. Line and grease the sides & base of a 6" cake tin
3. Turn the oven to 175°C
4. Cream the butter with an electric whisk
5. Add the bananas, chopped, and whisk until thoroughly combined
6. Add the beaten eggs one tablespoon at a time, and whisk thoroughly before adding the next lot
7. Gently fold in [using a big metal spoon, according to Saint Delia] the sifted flour, baking powder and spices
8. Gently fold in the dried fruit
9. Transfer the mixture to the lined/greased tin
10. Cook for 30-40 minutes, until a metal skewer comes out clean when inserted into the cake.
11. Allow to cool for about ten minutes before removing from the tin, and completely before storing in an airtight container.

Pics below

Ingredients, minus the baking powder

Cream the butter, then add the bananas & cream again

Blend in the eggs a bit at a time

Gently fold in the flour

Gently add in the dried fruit

Yum!

Cake, ready to be cooked

It rose beautifully...

...but settles on cooling

Good to go!