Sounds grim doesn't it, but actually it didn't taste too bad at all.
I've already told you I'm definitely not on a New Year diet.... but, in the interests of being able to fit nicely into my bikini on our family holiday to Egypt in February, I didn't think cutting back a bit was such a bad thing. Hubs is also on a bit of a health kick so I decided to transform his favourite cake, a Victoria Sponge, into something much more virtuous.
Not only does this sponge contain no fat whatsoever, it also contains only 80g of sugar, less than half the usual amount for a sponge cake of this size. This is thanks to a brand new product from Tate and Lyle - Light at Heart sugar (available in both white and brown) which incorporates a substance called Stevia with all natural cane-sugar. Stevia is a herb, grown in South America that has incredibly sweet leaves - it's 200-300 times sweeter than sugar - which means you only need to use half as much.
The result obviously isn't gone to match up with a full fat, full sugar version of a Victoria Sponge but for anyone on a diet or watching their fat and sugar intake, it's not a half bad alternative. One word of warning, the sponge is a lot drier because of the lack of fat so the resultant sponge wont keep for very long (2 days max). To finish, I filled the sponge with a 100% fruit Cranberry and Raspberry Jam from SuperJam, which made it even healthier, but you could use ordinary jam if you preferred.
Fat Free and Reduced Sugar Sponge Cake
Ingredients:
50g Cornflour
50g Plain Flour
50g Self Raising Flour
4 eggs
1 TSP Vanilla Extract
80g Light at Heart White Sugar
Jam for the filling
Icing Sugar for dusting
Method:
Step 1: Grease and line two 20cm sandwich tins. Preheat oven to 180c/160fan.
Step 2: Sift the flours together 3 times to aerate.
Step 3: In a standing mixer beat together the eggs, vanilla extract and Light at Heart sugar for 8-10 minutes until tripled in volume.
Step 4: Fold the flours into the eggs mixture and divide between the tins.
Step 5: Bake for 20 minutes and cool on a cooling rack.
Step 6: Spread a jar of jam over one of the bases then place the other sponge cake on top. Sieve over icing sugar
13 comments:
What about the fat in the egg yolks?
So, perhaps shouldn't have called it fat free but reduced fat!!
Looks very yummy! Any idea how it stacks up (cals) against full fat, full sugar version? Love the half sugar idea - that has a lot of applications in my household!
Do you think you got the same volume and texture of cake as when using ordinary sugar? I have some of the Light at Heart to try, but I've read that you can only reduce sugar by about 20% before it affects the volume and texture of cakes.
I would say that it didn't rise as much as my usual Victoria sponge but it certainly wasn't flat. I beat the eggs and the sugar for 10 minutes to try and get as much air in as possible....seemed to do the trick.
Stickyfingers - I guess it would be minus all the calories from the butter. A cake this size would usually have 200g of butter so around 1500 calories and 80g of sugar which would be about 350 calories
well still looks rather yummy! is that your new camera in action? great shot!
Hi Fiona
- yep new camera...getting there slowly!!
this recipe fits perfect for my sisters no fat dietry requirement, looks like she may get that birthday cake in April after all !
thanks will be giving this recipe a go soon.
With a blog called "Jam and Clotted Cream" and you STILL hope to get into your bikini in February - respect!! Think you could work your magic on brownies too?
Its' funny you should mention Brownies Claire...they are next on my hit list
The cake certainly looks light and airy Beth, I wouldn't mind a slice now with a cuppa!
It really looks delicious Beth and how clever :)
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