Food ~ Guilt Free Orange and Almond Cake

 ~ Food ~

Starting today, I've launched into a week of 'sugar-free'.   For me, this most particularly means cutting out the evening chocolate treat (yes ...I'm talking every night without fail!).  So - I knew that I would need to start the week off with a big grocery shop, stocking up on lots of fresh healthy foods to have at hand.  It was also imperative that I find a substitute for those deliciously creamy Cadbury Easter eggs that have been sneaking their way into our kitchen each night, and have consequently been devoured within fifteen minutes. 

Why sugar free?  I'm just not going to even try to attempt to go into the scientific reasons for that at nearly ten in the evening (or ten in the morning for that matter!). However if you are actually interested you could read The Diet Delusion, by Gary Taubes.  Even the first few chapters are enough to give you a fairly good sense of why to avoid food containing sugar, and why the 'low fat' diet is not good for your long term health.  You can access a review of that book here.   

So, here we go!  Anyone want to join me?  Any advice, recipes or tips will be greatly appreciated!  

The chosen Easter egg substitute for this week, is an Orange and Almond Cake, and with only a touch of flour and absolutely no sugar - it is virtually guilt free!  I have made the standard version of this recipe several times before, but this time, I substituted the sugar for a relatively new sweetener called Natvia.  It is all natural, so no nasty chemicals!  

Lets go:

100 grams butter, softened (plus extra for greasing

175 grams of Natvia sweetener

3 eggs

Juice and finely grated zest of one orange

1 tsp baking powder

160 grams almond meal

20-30 grams plain flour

1.  Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.  Grease an 8 inch cake tin (preferably spring form)

2.  Cream the butter until soft, then add the Natvia and beat until fluffy and creamy.  

3.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time.  (At this point, I got a little scared, as the mixture was starting to take on a very weird cheesy texture!  And it only got worse!  By the time I got to step 5 I thought the whole effort was a disaster.... )

4.  Whisk in the juice and zest of one large orange.  

5.  Sift the small amount of flour in with the baking power, and then fold in the almond meal.  Whisk together until well combined.  

6.  Pour into the prepared tin, and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.  

Taaaa Daaaa!   I am happy to report that this experiment was a success!  Though I was dubious throughout the cooking process about the consistency of the mixture, it ended up tasting really delicious!  HOORAH!  

I suggest serving with a dollop of lovely creamy yoghurt and a nice cup of tea!   Mmmmm Mmmmm!