Sugar free date cake

My two have been crooning over this one! I've adapted it from a recipe I found on a packet of dates. It's chocolatey, sweet, sticky and indulgent...

Ingredients

• 125g soft butter
• 1 egg
• 225g SR flour
• 1/2 tsp ground cinamon
• 75 mls milk
• 125g chopped dates
  

Method

• Preheat oven to 180
• Grease a 7" round cake tin or brownie tin
• Soften the butter with the back of a fork and beat it with the egg (the original recipe called for 125g soft light brown sugar in addition to the dates and you had to cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy before adding the egg, as per a usual cake recipe)
• Add the rest of the ingredients, mix well and put in the prepared tin.
• Bake for 1 - 1 1/4 hours until cooked through.
  

Sugar free Lemon fairy cakes with chocolate icing

As something a bit lighter to fudgy chocolate Birthday cake last week, I also made lemon fairy cakes and experimented with some icing. I've found it quite hard to make icing in the past without sugar in it.

I think it's safe to say I have surpassed myself this time as DH asked me four times whether I had written this down and could replicate it in the future! He seemed quite sad when he licked the final offering from the bowl!. It doesn't look the prettiest thing in the world, but then neither does anything once it hits your stomach ;)

Lemon fairy cakes with chocolate icing

Ingredients

• 150g butter
• 100g fructose
• 2 large eggs
• 150g plain flour
• 72g rice or cornflour
• 17g baking powder
• grated rind of 2 lemons
• enough milk to make a dropping consistency
• For the icing: 100g soft butter
• 100g set honey
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 200g cream cheese

Method

• Cream the butter and fructose
• Add the eggs and beat well
• Add the flours, baking powder, lemon rind and mix well
• Add enough milk to make a dropping consistency
• Divide the mix into fairy cake cases - makes about 20
• Bake at 180 for 12 minutes (in my fan oven)
• Cool on a rack
• To make the icing: beat all the ingredients together and spread on the cakes

The icing can seem quite runny, but it gradually dries out and becomes firmer. If it's a hot day, put the icing in the 'fridge for a while before attempting to spread on the cakes otherwise it's more like a sauce!

Sugar free chocolate fudge cake recipe

There's been a Birthday girl in the house his week! And she requested chocolate Birthday cake. This couldn't be simpler really; it's just a Victoria sponge with cocoa powder and I made the icing from Holex sugar free chocolate as follows:
Ingredients

• For the cake: 6oz soft butter
• 4 1/2 oz fructose
• 3 beaten eggs
• 6 oz Self Raising flour
• 1 oz cocoa powder
• For the icing: 100gm bar sugar free chocolate
• 100mls double cream
• 2oz butter (optional)
  

Method

• Cream together the fructose and butter until creamy
• Whisk in the beaten eggs until you have a batter-type consistency
• Stir in the flour and cocoa powder and mix well
  
• Put into two round greased tins and bake for 22 minutes (that's in my fan oven) until risen
• Remove from oven, leave to cool for a while and turn onto a cooling rack
• Once the cake is cold make the icing:
• In a bain marie (a bowl over a pan of simmering water to me and you) melt the bar of sugar free chocolate (I find Plamil sugar free is the most successful, but didn't have any in the house so used Holex) with the double cream and add butter to stabilise it if you're worried the chocolate will separate.
• The secret is to let is SLOWLY melt; keep it over a gentle heat and be patient!
• Spread between the layers and over the top
• Make it a day or two in advance and by the time you eat it, it will be deliciously rich and fudgy.

banana and walnut loaf

This recipe received a huge thumbs up from both my daughter and husband! Even the cat was hanging around by the oven door as I took it out.

I set myself a challenge this week to use up things in my kitchen cupboards instead of buying new. I wanted to try and find yummy recipes for the things I have bought that none of us have used.

Enter left stage: a packet of walnuts.

They've been sitting in the cupboard looking at me for several months. I bought them for DD as she really got into nuts at one stage. Like all kids though, she knew what she liked and she only liked pistachios.

I bought walnuts because they are power houses of nutrition. They are a hard nut to follow and provide huge amounts of omega 3s which helps to support heart function, the brain and all manner of things.

Walnuts are also high in antioxidants, manganese (brain function) and copper (anemia, hair loss, dry skin).

Then I went to the farm shop and was asked if I made banana cake because bananas were going brown and were half price today. Aha! Banana and walnut cake here we come.

Banana and walnut loaf; adapted from Kate Ford's "Compassion in farming" recipe

Ingredients

• 3oz butter
• 1/4 cup fructose
• 1 egg
• 1 mashed banana
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 4 tbsp crushed walnuts (I put them in a bag and battered them with a rolling pin)
• 1/3 cup natural yogurt
• pinch salt
• 1 1/4 cups self raising flour
  

Method

• Preheat oven to 180
• Cream together the butter and fructose
• Mix in the beaten egg until you get a smooth batter
• Add the banana and lemon juice and mix well
• Add the remaining ingredients and put in a greased loaf tin
• Bake for 30-40 minutes until golden

Verdict: 10/10

This didn't rise as much as I though it would, but my daughter shoved a massive piece into her mouth and went skipping down the garden with it; giving me a thumbs up sign as she went. She spent most of the night raving about it and asking for more.

Hubby, who isn't really into such things loved it too; so I think it's safe to call it a family favourite AND it means I will eventually get through the packet of walnuts! I think you could up the amount of walnuts easily; the original recipe called for 2 tablespoons, but I doubled it and now I know my two liked it, I'll add more next time.

Jammy buns!

I love the name of these; jammy buns - it just makes me laugh and I couldn't wait to make them.

I found the recipe over on the lovely "Diary of a Frugal Family" website. What I loved about making this is that it is SO easy. Children can handle the dough easily and it's super quick to make. Definitely a recipe for a beginner.

My daughter always eyes up the jammy dodger biscuits in the shops, and of course those are loaded with sugar (and goodness knows what else), so these will make a great alternative for her. There is even REAL fruit in the jam, so a tiny bit of nutritional value. Ok, I know that's stretching it a bit, but at least there aren't any nasties in there!

Jammy Buns

Ingredients:

• 8oz self raising flour
• 3oz butter
• 3oz fructose
• Few tablespoons of milk
• few teaspoons of St Dalfour strawberry jam (or sugar free jam of your choice)
  

Method:

• preheat oven to 180
• Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs
• Stir in the sugar
• Add milk, a desertspoon at a time until you have a soft dough (I needed 8 desertspoons to give you an idea of quantity needed).
• Get your hands in the bowl and divide the mix into little balls. I made 20 ping pong sized balls.
• Place balls onto a greased baking sheet
• Made an indentation into each ball and drop 1/2 teaspoon of jam into each
• Bake until golden - it took 12 minutes in my fan oven.
  

Now here is my confession

I was in such a rush I FORGOT the fructose LOL! So I'll be serving them up for pudding today and we'll see how they are received. To be honest, I don't think DD will worry about it; anything that taste remotely like biscuits or pastry she loves. I'll slap a bit of creme fraiche with them and see what happens.

It will be interesting to see and if she doesn't say anything, then they are even more frugal than I thought!

I've just figured that you could probably use these as a savoury dish as well if you omit the sugar. I think I might experiment and see what I can come up - the easiest vol-au-vents in the world probably!
Verdict

10/10 "I think next time there is no need to put the jam in them because they are fine as they'd be fine without it."
Well there is clearly no accounting for taste! This is probably the most frugal thing I could ever make!