David Gillespie - Christmas Cake

13 Dec 2011 6:31 PM

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Message # 772824

Anonymous

Anyone have a recipe for fructose free Christmas cake? I realize that all the fruit in it may make it a no-no. perhaps replacing sucrose with glucose would lighten the "burden" a bit??

13 Dec 2011 8:25 PM

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Reply # 772886 on 772824

Deleted user

Not sure about your luck there. A simple christmas cake contains about say 250g mixed fruit (sometimes more, depending on the recipe). That is amount of fructose of 79g for the whole cake. You have a simple tiny slice, even it is say 1/10 of it that's 8g of fructose hit alone. But in saying that there is something you can make. Instead of a normal christmas cake you can make your own cherry and almond christmas cake. With cherries at this time of year going down in price you can easily make your own glace cherries. Just google and you'll find heaps of recipes, of course replacing the sugar with dextrose. I'm sure it would work! http://www.foodloversbritain.com/FoodMatters/Recipies/Preserves/James-Martins-Glace-Cherries/. I might give it a go myself. I'm baking up some home made sweet treats to give to everyone for christmas!

14 Dec 2011 5:23 PM

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Reply # 773515 on 772824

Deleted user

Janelle, would that recipe for the syrup work with dextrose? That's a hell of a lot of dextrose!! Plus if I remember rightly, you have to do it 3 times!!
A subject close to my heart. Christmas cake. I come from a long line of ladies who make (made) their own!! I think it's the one thing I really really miss now I'm on low fructose. Better than chocolate in my book, well, maybe Lindor balls (the black ones) come a close second!! lol....I haven't had any of those for well over 18 months. I used to treat myself for Xmas, when they were on special. Didn't last Xmas, and won't this Xmas, either. Will make do with a square of Lindt 85%.
But do miss the cake at Xmas. sigh....
Any other great ideas? I'm not into chocolate cake BTW. I only like choc covered things, not choc flavoured things! There's a big difference!!

That was a good idea though....

Love
Sylvia x

14 Dec 2011 5:58 PM

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Reply # 773531 on 772824

Deleted user

yeah it would work with dextrose, basically when you cook the syrup your evaporating the water off leaving the sugar but in this case the dextrose. It is a lot in one hit and you wouldn't want too much of it, but if using in recipes I would actually decrease the amount of dextrose in the recipe too.

14 Dec 2011 6:08 PM

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Reply # 773538 on 772824

Deleted user

In total it's just under 2 cups worth of dextrose...

200g sugar is 1 cup dextrose

30g sugar is 2 tablespoons dextrose

40g sugar is 2.5 tablespoons dextrose

100g sugar is 1/2 cup dextrose

In total it's 500g worth of cherries. If you were making say chocolate fudge it would be really no different dextrose wise cause it's the same amount of dextrose... not unless you eat all the cherries :) It's only once a year, a very big day, I'll be trying it out and will let you know how it goes, I think it's a nice adaption for family and I'm sure the kids will love their substitute xmas cake. I'm making them as gifts so i'll be cooking them in muffin pans.

15 Dec 2011 11:21 PM

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Reply # 774926 on 772824

Deleted user

Sounds good, Janelle, waiting for the report with bated breath!!

Sylvia x

19 Dec 2011 5:41 PM

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Reply # 777421 on 772824

Deleted user

I'm currently half way through the process and so far so good! The cheeries look really good and they've kept their colour. I'm due to finish Thursday. I have added a little more dexrose then what the recipe calls for however the liquid is looking really good and pretty much like the consistency you would expect. I think the cherries are going to turn out well and the cake will be to die for!

20 Dec 2011 4:22 PM

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Reply # 778264 on 772824

Deleted user

Fingers crossed, Janelle, sounds YUMMM!!

Sylvia x

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SMILE!!

10 Dec 2014 2:10 PM

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Reply # 3167867 on 772824

Deleted user

Because of the fruit I don't think you can have a fructose free Christmas cake but I do have a recipe for a sugar free cake.

Soak I kg mixed fruit in 2 cups boiling water. Add I tspn Brandy, rum, almond and vanilla essence also one or two tablespoons parisienne essence (gravy browning) for colour. If you want and you have it, substitute real brandy for some of the water ( I use about half a cup!). Cover and leave overnight. Next day sift 2 cups SR flour with one tspn mixed spice, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add the fruit mixture and stir (don't use a mixer) till all the fruit and flour are incorporated. Line a 20 cm tin with baking paper, fill with the mix, smooth the top with wet hands and make a hollow in the centre. This is to allow for rising and makes a flatter cake if you want to decorate it. Put into a cold oven and set temp to 160 degrees C. Bake for about I hour or so. Don't over-bake, this cake is better undercooked than overcooked. A skewer should have a very small amount of mix on the very end. Turn tin upside down on to baking paper and leave to cool with the tin still over the cake. This allows all the steam to moisturise the cake. I am a cake-decorator and have made this recipe for several years. I am always being asked for the recipe. I am thinking of trying to make a marzipan icing using ground almonds with dextrose instead of icing sugar. I don't like the white icing anyway. I am also thinking of trying it with less of the fruit to see if it still works. It is also delicious with walnuts (or any other nuts) added. Maybe the fibre in the nuts will help to mitigate some of the fructose in the fruit!