This no added sugar fruit cake is packed with sweet, juicy dried fruits, so you really won't notice that the cake mixture is sugar-free. Low sugar fruit cake tastes delicious, and it's much healthier. Perfect as an everyday treat or sugar free Christmas cake.
Zest the orange and squeeze the orange juice, and make up to 100 ml with water. Add to a pan along with the dried fruits and spices. Bring to a gentle simmer for 5 minutes or until most of the juice has been absorbed. Leave to cool.
Preparing the tin
Whilst the fruit is cooling, prepare the tin. Line the bottom and sides of a 1lb loaf tin with buttered greaseproof paper or baking parchment.
Mixing the cake
Beat the eggs, and mix in the softened butter, flour and baking powder. Stir in the milk. Add the cooled soaked dried fruit and mix well. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the top level
Baking
Bake for 1 hour. If you are making double the quantity, increase the baking time to one and a half hours. The cake should be lightly browned, and if you insert a skewer if should come out clean.
Notes
If you want to make a healthy Christmas cake, double the recipe and bake in a 23 cm round tin. Add an extra 30 minutes to the baking time.
You can also add alcohol such as brandy or orange liqueur instead of the orange juice.
Chopped nuts will also make this cake more festive - if you making a double quantity, add 100 g of your favourite nuts. Pecans, walnuts or almonds all work well.
You can either add a glaze made with sugar free apricot jam or honey. Just melt the jam in a pan with a teaspoon of water and brush onto the cake. You can also decorate with extra dried fruits and nuts, or this honey and almond marzipan.
For a gluten free fruit cake, use a plain gluten free flour blend.