Fruit Bundt
This delightful little cake stemmed from a place of deep creativity. I wanted to make something completely natural but sweet using fruit (fructose).
Fruit is a wonderful sugar substitute in any bake or cake. I am particularly obsessed with banana’s but I recognize the power of citrus in my baking too. The flavours are simply wonderful.
Because I had a bowl of ageing pairs I poached it in a little bit of honey and water with a cinnamon stick. From this, I made a puree and it’s what I used as my main sugar component.
This cake can be made 100% vegan if you substitute the milk for oat milk or the yoghurt for an extra 1/2 cup of pear puree.
Did you know: Fructose is a natural sugar. Honey is considered fructose. Sucrose is table sugar. Glucose is your body’s favourite carbohydrate-based energy source. Fructose is the sweetest of the three but it has the least impact on your blood sugar.
Ingredients
2 cups stoneground white cake flour (I use Eureka Mills)
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 xylitol
pear puree 3/4 cup
2 small banana’s, mashed
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup fat-free plain yoghurt
1/3 cup milk
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla essence
2 tbsp honey
1 cup hot water
juice of 1/2 orange
zest of 1 orange
cinnamon stick
2 pears, peeled and quartered
Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
Spray a bundt pan with Spray-And-Cook and set aside.
Poach pears in water, honey, and with a cinnamon stick until it’s soft and the water is reduced. About 10 minutes on high heat.
Mix dry ingredients with a whisk: flour, baking powder, sugar
Mix wet ingredients with the same whisk: eggs, olive oil, vanilla, milk, yoghurt, pear puree, and banana.
Make a well in the dry ingredients, pour in the wet ingredients. Fold them together slowly. I use my spatula to do this. Make sure there is no dry flour anywhere.
Fold in orange zest (save some for decoration later)
Pour into the baking tin and bake for 35 full minutes.
When you remove this cake from the oven, cover it with a dishcloth or foil and let it continue baking in its heat. About 15 minutes in, the sides will pull away from the tin and you will be able to tip it out onto a wire rack with ease.
If you want a glaze, mix 2 tsp orange juice with icing sugar and honey and drizzle it over the cake. If you leave out the icing sugar, the glaze will be clear, but the taste will be marvelous.
