Before you folks who hate fruitcake (like my husband) turn your backs on this, know that this is NOT your typical fruitcake. It is appreciated even by my husband who has never liked traditional f ruitcakes. I do this cake either at Christmas or Thanksgiving every year and my family just love it.

I have renamed this cake (formerly Cranberry Orange Brandy Cake) as I find it reminds me of a good fruitcake. I’ve made a number of changes to this cake recipe and believe I’ve got it about right now. I’ve added several ingredients and altered amounts on some. Even my husband thought this cake had a nice texture and deep, rich flavor and he’s not fond of traditional fruitcake AT ALL. There is almost a smoky flavor to this coming from the mesquite flour. This cake is light and fluffy, not dense like traditional fruitcakes. I think the addition of the oat fiber plays a major role in texture here. I order oat fiber from Honeyvillegrains.com. I bought my mesquite flour so long ago, I don’t remember the source, so you’d have to Google search to find a source. I do know that Netrition.com does not carry this product. This recipe is not acceptable until the grains rung of OWL. Leftovers will keep best in the refrigerator, as with most low-carb cakes. Lack of sugar means they just don’t keep as well at room temperature. This cake was baked in an 8½” x 3″ round latex cake pan shown below:



INGREDIENTS:

7/8 c. butter
1 ¼ c. granular Splenda
¼ c. brandy
¼ c. DaVinci coconut or vanilla sugar-free syrup
4 beaten eggs
½ c. coarsely chopped fresh cranberries
2 T. grated orange rind
3/4 c. chopped pecans
¼ c. unsweetened coconut
2 T. oat fiber
1 3/4 c. CarbQuick bake mix
4 T. mesquite flour
1 tsp. baking powder (yes, even though CarbQuick has some in it!)

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. Pour brandy over cranberries to soak mixing the cake. Chop nuts. Soften butter and beat with Splenda until smooth. Add eggs beating well after each one. Mix all dry ingredients in separate bowl and slowly add to egg mixture, Stir well. Now add in cranberry mixture, brandy and all, and the nuts. Be sure batter is well-blended. Pour into a sprayed round, deep cake pan (I used a small 8½" silicone sunflower-shaped pan that is 3″ deep, shown below). Bake in a preheated 350º oven for 40-50 minutes. It is done when toothpick stuck in center comes out dry/clean. Cake will be mounded in the middle at first fall back level as it cools. Turn cake onto cake plate when fully cooled.



NUTRITIONAL INFO: Serves 12, each serving contains:

203 calories
18 g fat
15.75 g carbs
9.62 g fiber
239 mg. sodium
6.13 g NET CARBS
6.1 g protein

Can I use almond and coconut flour to replace the other flours?

I suppose you can, but I don't like working with too much coconut flour personally. It will require more eggs, depending on how much CF you use. It's very drying and makes batters very, very thick. Resulting cakes can end up a dried out brick if you use too much, IMO. I'd go heavier with almond flour.

Omitting the mesquite flour will make this much less like a fruitcake. That's the truly magical ingredient in this recipe IMO.

This looks amazing. I love your cake design too I love the idea of incorporating coconut flavour! It's my favourite ingredient to use.