CANE SUGAR FREE, FAT FREE FRUIT BREAD: GUARANTEED YUMMY!

Shhhhhhhh ...... As promised in an earlier post, this is the first of my secret recipes. 

This is for the easiest fruit bread recipe in the world, and also as promised, guaranteed yummy.

There is a vegan and a vegetarian version that I have written below.  I adapted it from a recipe I found online and it has worked every time, no matter how I experiment with it.

It is quite a heavy and dense loaf; the vegetarian version is a bit lighter in texture, but both are awesome.

You can use any dried fruit you like; use only one type or mix and match.

My favourites are raisins, dates, figs and apricots.  I have also tried prunes, apples and currents.  The fruit is up to you.

After the loaf is cool, I slice it up, wrap the slices in kitchen paper, pop them in a big snap lock bag and freeze them.  Then when I want a slice I just toast it, spread it with either peanut butter or tahini, and gobble it up with a nice cuppa tea.

Decide whether you are going to chop the fruit into smaller bits or leave whole.  I am lazy, I leave them whole. 

VEGETARIAN SUGAR FREE FRUIT LOAF: (the 'less dense' version)

The day before:

Soak ½ kg (1 lb) of dried fruit in 1 cup fresh orange juice overnight

Next day:

lightly grease a loaf tin

set the oven for 180 degrees C.

Ingredients:

Stir into the ½ kg fruit/OJ mix

1 cup whey (I use whey from making cream cheese, but you can use butter milk or extra orange juice)

1 heaped tsp cinnamon

1 heaped tsp mixed spice powder  

2 cups wholemeal (or white) self raising flour

Mix together, place in the loaf tin, and cook for 1 hour on 180 degrees C.  Then lower oven to 160 degrees C for an extra half hour, or until cooked.  Stick a skewer in after the first extra 15 minutes, as cooking time will depend on your oven.  If it starts to get a bit too brown, place a brown paper bag over the top of the cake to protect it.

VEGAN SUPER DENSE SUGAR FREE FRUIT LOAF:(the 'more dense' version)

The day before:

Soak 1kg (2 lbs) of fruit in 2 cups of fresh orange juice overnight

Next day:

lightly grease a loaf tin

set the oven for 180 degrees C.

Ingredients:

Stir into the 1 kg fruit/OJ mix

1 heaped tsp cinnamon

1 heaped tsp mixed spice powder  

2 cups wholemeal (or white) self raising flour

Mix together, place in the loaf tin, and cook for 1 hour on 180 degrees C.  Then lower oven to 160 degrees C for an extra half hour, or until cooked.  Stick a skewer in after the first extra 15 minutes, as cooking time will depend on your oven.  If it starts to get a bit too brown, place a brown paper bag over the top of the cake to protect it (ha, a bit of deja vu!)

CANE SUGAR FREE CHRISTMAS CAKE:

If you want to make a Christmas-type cake, substitute ½ cup of brandy for ½ cup of the liquid and add ½ cup of nuts instead of ½ a cup of the fruit.

That is all there is to it.  Hope you like it.