Low Calorie, Non Alcoholic Fruit Cake

An easy, low calorie, moist, non alcoholic fruit cake with goodness of wholewheat and Greek yogurt.

Cakes for the Holidays

This week’s theme is bake them cakes! I love baking and usually try to participate in bake-thon every December that my fellow blogging marathoners do. I could not participate last year and this year as well. This week’s theme is my substitute for a bake-thon, though it is just 3 bakes. At least I fired up the oven this year to bake fresh cranberry Christmas cake, applesauce whole wheat cake and today’s non alcoholic fruit cake.

Low Calorie, Non Alcoholic Fruit Cake

Today’s low calorie non alcoholic fruit cake is a moist, low carb cake with whole wheat flour. Texture of the cake is dense, yet moist and it tastes more like a fruit bread than a cake. Nonetheless a keeper recipe and we finished the loaf in less than 24 hours.

How to make a Healthy Fruit Cake ?

This fruit cake is very easy to prepare and the only time consuming step is soaking dry fruits. Since this is a key and crucial step in preparing a fruit cake, it can not be skipped. Dried fruits are soaked in apple juice or brandy (for alcoholic version) for at least 8 – 24 hours. This results in a moist cake else, the dry fruit will soak up the moisture from the batter, leaving the cake dry.

Using whole wheat flour and just 1 tbsp butter cuts down the calorie count significantly when compared to classic fruit cakes that use all purpose flour and butter. Maple syrup is the sweetener for the cake which also gives extra moisture to cake and Greek yogurt replaces butter which gives the soft texture to the cake. Once the dried fruit are soaked in juice or brandy, fruit cake is done in less than one and a hours from start to finish. Cake tasted better the next day and I stored it in a covered container.

What kind of Dried Fruits to use?

Use dried fruits of choice and use what is in your pantry. No need to run to the store just for dried fruits. I used dried cranberries, dried blueberries, Turkish apricots and dried pineapple. To be honest, I didn’t really care much for pineapple and next time would use golden raisins. Use colorful variety of dried fruits for a colorful cake.

Non Alcoholic Fruit Cake Recipe

Source: Amy’s Healthy Baking
Recipe has gram measures and I used that measure.

Non Alcoholic Classic Fruit Cake

A healthier, non alcoholic, whole wheat fruit cake that is soft and delicious

5 from 6 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Breakfast, Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Soak Time: 1 day

Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Servings: 15

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp (30 grams) Dried Cranberries chopped
• 3 tbsp (35 grams) Dried Blueberries chopped
• 3 tbsp (40 grams) chopped Dried Apricots
• 3 tbsp (30 grams) chopped Dried Pineapple
• 9 tbsp (135 ml) Apple Juice or Brandy, check note
• 2 cups (240 grams) Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 ½ tsp (5 grams) Baking Powder
• ½ tsp (4 grams) Ground Cinnamon
• ¼ tsp (2 grams) Salt
• 1 tbsp (14 grams) Unsalted Butter, melted
• 1 Large Egg room temperature
• 2 tsp (10 ml) Vanilla Extract
• ½ cup (125 grams) Plain Nonfat Greek Yogurt
• 2 tbsp (30 ml) Molasses
• ½ cup (120 ml) Maple Syrup or substitute Honey
• ½ cup (120 ml) Nonfat Milk

Instructions

• Take dried fruits; cranberries, blueberries, apricots, pineapple and apple juice in a glass container with a tight lid. Fill apple juice until dried fruit submerge in juice for even soaking.  Pineapple pieces were very dried and had more volume, hence i used almost 12 tbsp of apple juice. 
• Cover the container with lid and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or up to 24 hours. When ready to bake, before starting the prep work, drain and discard apple juice. If required, gently squeeze or press dried fruits in strainer to extract excess apple juice.
• Preheat the oven to 350 F.
• Grease a 9x5” loaf pan with butter or spray a nonstick cooking spray. My pan was slightly smaller, 8 ½ x 4 ¾” pan.
• In a bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and keep aside.
• In a larger bowl, beat together butter and egg until well mixed.
• Beat in vanilla extract, followed by yogurt until no yogurt lumps remain.
• Stir in molasses and maple syrup.
• Fold in flour and milk, starting & ending with flour in 3 parts. Fold or stir until just incorporated.
• Fold in drained dried fruits.
• Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan, spread evenly and bake in a preheated oven for 40-50 minutes or until toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Mine was done in 55 minutes.
• Cool the loaf in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a cooling rack to completely cool.
• Slice and serve.
• Store in an airtight container for upto 5 days.

Notes

• Apple juice/brandy - Soak dried fruit in apple juice or in brandy for alcoholic version. It is essential to soak in some liquid for a moist cake, else dried fruits will soak up the moisture from the batter. Dried pineapples I used were very dry and I had to use almost 11-12 tbsp of apple juice.
• Bake time -I had to bake for 55 minutes. The crust was crusty and center was moist. My theory for longer bake time of the cake is, since I used more juice, batter had more moisture, hence longer bake time.
• Maple syrup - Good substitute is honey or agave

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