Banishing rainy day, back to school blues

Well the half term holiday is nearly over and it's raining again!  One cure for those winter blues is a hearty bowl of vegetable soup followed by a nice slice of cake.  Well the cupboards were looking a little bare but a I noticed a lonely Bramley apple on the bottom of the veg rack and decided to find a use for it.

I have tweaked a WI recipe for Date and Bramley loaf by reducing the added sugar content to virtually nil and substituting ground almonds for some of the flour content to lower the carb count.  Dates are so sweet by themselves that they really don't need much added sugar and the resulting cake is moist and plenty sweet enough.  Allow the cake to cool down properly before eating as it is much easier to slice.  We ate the warm but crumbly version!  Thumbs up from the family and plenty left for school lunchboxes tomorrow.

 Date and Bramley Loaf (the low sugar, gluten free version)

 

Ingredients

• 175g dried ready-to-eat dates
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 250ml recently boiled water
• 175g gluten free self-raising flour (I used Doves Farm)
• 100g ground almonds
• 1/2 tsp gluten free baking powder
• 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 115g butter/margarine
• 12g Truvia sweetener
• 1 medium egg, beaten
• 1 medium Bramley apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped

1. Snip the dates into small pieces and place in a small bowl.  Stir in the bicarbonate of soda and pour over the water.  Cover and leave to soak for at least a couple of hours or preferably overnight.
2. When your dates are ready preheat the oven to 180C / Gas 4.   Grease and line a 900g (2lb) loaf tin.
3. Sift together the flour, baking powder, xanthan gum and cinnamon into a large bowl.  Stir in the ground almonds, breaking up any lumps.  Rub in the butter or margarine until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs and then stir in the sweetener.
4. Add the dates, with their liquid, egg and chopped apple.  Beat until just combined.
5. Pour mixture into tin and bake for 1hr 15mins, or until a skewer comes out cleanly when inserted.  You may need to cover the cake with greaseproof paper or foil whilst cooking to prevent it going too brown on top.
6. Leave the cake in the tin for 10mins before turning out and allowing to cool completely on a wire rack.  

I think my loaf will make 12 slices and I estimated that each slice will be around 22g of carbs.