Low Sugar Pink Grapefruit Loaf Cake

Photography by Simeon Crofts

DIETARY – Vegetarian/Low Sugar/Nut-free

Cooking regularly for a type 1 diabetic, you become really in tune with carbohydrates. I have learnt more about carbs than I ever thought there was to know! In a nutshell, for a type 1, it’s all about the total carbs per serving to ensure the correct units of insulin are injected, while a type 2 diabetic will likely pay more attention to the sugar content of what they are about to eat or drink. With this in mind, I have been developing this grapefruit cake recipe for several weeks to suit both types of diabetes and those watching their sugar intake.

As always with Deliciously Free, it’s important to get a balance between suiting a dietary need, in this case, reduced sugar, and flavour. If I am going to eat a cake, I want it to be moist, fluffy, sweet and utterly delicious. It took many attempts to tick those boxes and still keep the nutritionals in line, but I can’t wait for you to try my flavoursome citrus loaf that’s a healthier alternative to most cakes without compromising on taste.

Typically, a similar fruit flavoured loaf cake would be around 60-70g of carbohydrates per slice and around 40-45g of which sugars. Using that as a basis, I really wanted to bring that down significantly for this recipe, and I am pleased to say this loaf cake sits at just under a third of the carb content usually found in fruit loaf cakes without the icing and around 10% of the sugar!

This cake is beautifully sweet and slightly tangy with grapefruit, so you can absolutely make it without icing for a delicious treat that will keep for a week in an airtight container and can be sliced and frozen for up to three months. If you do want to add the icing, you don’t need much and can even use less than I have suggested if desired. Be wary when adding the grapefruit juice to your icing sugar, as you won’t need a lot to get that perfect thick icing to spread or drizzle across the top. If you want to freeze your loaf cake, leave off the icing.

Nutritionals (per slice)

Without icing:

245 kcal

22g carbs

5.5g of which sugars

13.65g fat                       



With icing:

282 kcal

32g carbs

14.5g of which sugars

Low Sugar Pink Grapefruit Loaf Cake

Print

With ImageWithout Image

Makes: 1 x 1 Litre loaf cake (11 slices)

Low in carbs and sugar but big on flavour, this citrus loaf cake is beautifully moist and easy to make!

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 170g butter, cubed
• 60g caster sugar
• 120g xylitol sweetener
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup grapefruit juice, strained
• 180g self-raising flour
• Pinch of salt

For the icing:

• 100g icing sugar
• 1-2 tsp grapefruit juice, strained

Method

1. Grease a 1 litre loaf tin with butter and line with a strip of baking paper lengthways – this will help you lift the cake out later on.
2. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.
3. Using a hand or stand mixer, beat together the butter, sugar and xylitol for 1-2 minutes.
4. Add the remaining cake ingredients and beat well for up to 1 minute. Stop halfway and scrape the sides of the bowl to ensure everything is well incorporated.
5. Pour the thick cake batter into your prepared loaf tin, smooth out with a spatula and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 45-50 mins or until a knife comes out clean when inserted.
6. Allow the cake to cool for 15 minutes in the tin before turning out on to a wire rack to cool completely.
7. If you want to ice your cake, sieve your icing sugar into a clean bowl and stir in the strained grapefruit juice a little at a time until you achieve the desired consistency. Pour over the completely cooled cake and allow to set before enjoying. This cake keeps for up to 1 week in an airtight container.

https://deliciously-free.com/blog/low-sugar-pink-grapefruit-loaf-cake

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @deliciously.free on instagram and hashtag it # lowsugarcake