Fructose Friendly Cake With Orange And Cardamon

It’s time for the first fructose free recipe!

Baking never aroused much enthusiasm in me. I do like cakes and cookies, but I could never get much out of the process itself. I always felt that a cake took ages to bake and that the funny smell of baking would spread through the entire flat, clinging to my clothes and hair for days. Yuck. And cleaning up the whole mess, the butter, the flour, the eggslime that seems to be in every single corner. No thank you. Cooking on the other hand, oh yeah! I love standing in front of numerous pots and pans and can’t wait for flavors and smells to unfold. So it wasn’t much of a tragedy for me when I found out about my fructose malabsorption. In terms of baking my diagnosis just served as another good reason not to bake. 

But (there is always a but), since I do sometimes crave something sweet, or let me say, something desert like, I don’t have much of a choice to wield the mixer from time to time. Especially considering that I need a serious time-out from those low in fructose cookies available here in Germany. Even though I’m happy that such products exist, calling them dry and boring would be an understatement believe me.

So, a fructose friendly cake with orange and cardamon it was for a change. I found the recipe on Five and Spice and we were having a friend over for dinner that night, so it was a good excuse to bake a cake. Besides I never used cardamon for cooking or baking before. Also the recipe called for my favorite food ever – yogurt. So I couldn’t wait to actually try this cake.

I ground the cardamon and it’s unfamiliar scent made me wonder if I would actually like this cake. But as soon as I ran my fingers through the empty dough bowl, licking the doughy leftovers…yummy… what an amazing taste! And yes, I’m almost 30 years old, but I still enjoy licking the dough bowl clean. Why would you be baking in the first place, if you don’t consider licking the dough bowl in the end? My mom used to leave about a spoon full of dough on the hook of the mixer for me. “Don’t you worry about the raw eggs?” some of you might ask. Let me tell you, I couldn’t care less! =) And just in case you were wondering how I substituted the sugar, I used a mix of glucose and potato starch/flour. In Germany we don’t make a difference between potato starch and flour. If your local traders do, I would suggest you use potato starch.

As for the fusion of cardamon and orange zest? Amazing! And in case there are any leftovers, I definitely would not reject a piece of this cake for breakfast the day after. The most surprising thing about this cake, neither my fellow eaters nor I missed the sugar at all! Everyone rated the cake as delicious. The flavor of the cardamon is really intense and adds it’s own kind of sweetness to the cake. I was too busy indulging this foreign flavor to even think about the sugar. I wondered why I never stumbled across a recipe including cardamon before.

So, I hope you will enjoy this recipe as much as I do and please let me know what you think about cardamon. Do you have any recommendations what else to bake or cook with this queen of spices?

p.s. I was so blown away by this spice that I did some more research on it. And guess what the interwebz told me? “Cardamon is effective in improving digestion. It helps those suffering from stomach cramps. It is a good stimulant and beneficial for those suffering from flatulence and gas.” Well, if that doesn’t make this a perfect spice for people suffering from fructose malabsorption, I don’t know what does!

Fructose friendly cake with orange and cardamon

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pan
1/2 cup potato starch/flour (in Germany there is no difference between those two actually)
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup glucose (use more if you like it sweeter)
1 tsp. ground green cardamon
1 1/2 tsp. orange zest
3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/2 cup olive oil
2 large eggs
1 vanilla bean pods (scraped)
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a standard loaf pan and dust with some flour. Turn upside down over sink to remove excess flour. Whisk together the flour, potato starch/flour, baking powder, cardamon, and salt in a medium bowl.

In another bowl whisk together glucose, orange zest, yogurt, olive oil, eggs, and vanilla extract until well blended. Fold in the dry ingredients and mix until they’re combined. Pour the batter into prepared pan and place in the center of the oven until top of cake is golden brown. Mine took about 50 minutes. The cake shouldn’t get too dry. For my part, the cake could’ve even been a little bit moister and I would add more orange zest next time.

Let the cake cool in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Take cake out of its pan, place on a plate and allow to cool completely, thats when it tastes best.