Fat Free Fruit Cake

wowDhol DROOD
Posted on 12/17/2008 by tashasaphi
Hey all! Nice to be here :D

I thought I'd share a tasty little secret my grandmother passed on to me not long ago. Great if you still want a cakey munch with your tea after the Christmas pounds are starting to show. It's ridiculously easy to make, and probably one of your five a day!



Ingredients

1 lb (463g) of dried fruit- sultanas, currants, raisins (but cranberries would probably taste nice too)
1 large cup/mug black tea.
Two mugs flour
1/3-1/2 mug of golden caster sugar



Pour the hot black tea over the fruit and mix thouroughly. Make sure the tea almost covers the fruit.
Cover the bowl and leave to soak overnight.
Next day, add the flour and sugar and mix until a batter is formed.
Pour into a loaf tin, lined with greaseproof paper.
Bake in an oven preheated to 160c for up to two hours. In my fan oven, in a round cake tin, it only took 90mins

The cake is delicious and fruity, and freezes very well, so you can make up a big batch of them and always have some ready for guests!

Hope everyone enjoys it! I'll bake one when I get a moment and post some pictures.
Leave a Comment
goose_entity 17th-Dec-2008 02:34 pm (UTC)
*bookmarks*

thank you!
tashasaphi 17th-Dec-2008 10:01 pm (UTC)
You are most welcome!
bluemotion 17th-Dec-2008 04:16 pm (UTC)
How much is a mug? :\
chochotte 17th-Dec-2008 05:33 pm (UTC)
I think the idea is that it can be very roughly estimated, it's not a precise measurement like your cups. I shall go and measure an average-looking British mug out for you and check, though...

....about 250ml. So roughly equivalent to a US 'cup'.
tashasaphi 17th-Dec-2008 09:58 pm (UTC)
What Chochotte said :)

sazzra 17th-Dec-2008 07:44 pm (UTC)
I just joined and can't believe one of the first things I read is a favourite! I got the recipe from a Rosemary Conley diet book, so it must be OK :) I recommend using earl grey/lady grey tea too, it makes it a totally different cake from normal tea.
tashasaphi 17th-Dec-2008 10:01 pm (UTC)
I think that might be where my grandmother got it from- but the book said to use a full cup of sugar, and with all that dried fruit there really is no need at all! half a cup is the absolute maximum I would use, and of course you can substitute it for a low calorie sweetener.

But you probably know all that :) The cake is so tasty... and guilt free! I am gonna take you up on that tea tip though! I've been using twinings breakfast blend, which is pretty lovely too :D
vonvoncake 18th-Dec-2008 03:38 am (UTC)
Wow, this sounds so yummy. My grandmother used to make a similar cake with coffee and raisins and cinnamon. She called it depression cake because she learned to make it during the depression when eggs and milk were very expensive (but surprisingly not coffee). She also used to add pecans to it (thus making it VERY not diet friendly) but it's good without. It's essentially the same measurements as above.
tashasaphi 21st-Dec-2008 07:37 pm (UTC)
Hehehe this one is diet friendly, because it's so filling, and even though the dried fruit is obviously very sugary, you really don't need to add very much additional sugar at all, the fruit from a normal sized piece counts for more than 1 of your five a day!

I think my one is supposed to have an egg in it, but I think it works without too- there's so much fruit it won't rise anyway!
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