Yesterday we had a birthday party for CrashGirl’s 4th birthday. I love a good birthday party, and especially love decorating a cake. You can see previous birthday cakes here on the blog and you’ll get a sense of how much fun I have!
So this year when it came to planning the cake, the big question wasn’t so much, what will the cake look like, but “Will the cake have sugar in it?” Can I really serve up a birthday cake full of sugar when we have quit sugar? The answer is no, and that doesn’t mean the end of all the fun.
Thanks to David Gillespie’s book Sweet Poison we were able to have our cake and eat it too!
The theme for the birthday was (loosely) a beach party. Except we weren’t at the beach. Although we did have a sandpit! So we made the cake the beach.
Here’s how I made it.
The cake
I used a double quantity of David’s Vanilla Cake Recipe (what follows is the single quantity recipe, published with David’s permission).
Vanilla Cake Recipe
- 150g butter, softened
- 1 cup dextrose
- 2 large eggs
- vanilla essence
- 2/3 cup milk
- 2 cups self-raising flour
- pinch of salt
- Preheat over to 180°C (350°F). Grease and flour a block tin.
- Using an electric mixer, beat butter and dextrose to a cream
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition
- Add vanilla essence
- Sift together flour and salt in a separate bowl
- Fold one-third of the flour into the mixture, followed by half of the milk
- Continue adding the flour and the milk alternatively until you have a soft dough (do not over-mix)
- Spread evenly into the prepared tin
- Bake for approximately 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean
- Remove from tin and cool on a wire rack
The mix was a bit dry so I added more milk until I had a smoother and softer consistency.
Rather unconventionally I poured the batter into a greased and floured Scanpan roasting dish. It was huge, but worked to bake the perfect big beach cake!
Decoration
All of the frosting (except the waves) is the Mock Cream recipe from David’s book (again published with his permission).
Mock Cream Recipe
Mock cream doesn’t work well in a hot environment, so if you plan to use it, do so where it can be served straight from the fridge.
- 125g butter, softened (not melted)
- 1 teaspoon powdered gelatine
- 1 cup dextrose
- 1/4 cup warm water
- Using an electric mixer, beat softened butter until light and fluffy
- Sprinkle gelatine over two tablespoons of the warm water to soften
- Add dextrose to beaten butter and beat thoroughly until light and fluffy once again
- It may be necessary to add the rest of the water to the mixture to improve the consistency. If you need to do this, do it slowly, one tablespoon at a time. Allow the mixture to absorb each addition before beating it back up to a fluffy consistency and then adding more if necessary. You are aiming for a mixture that is not grainy to taste. If you use up all your 1/4 cup and the mixture is still grainy, add up to another 2 tablespoons but no more. Too much water will drown this recipe and turn it into a gloopy mess that never sets.
- Flavour and colour as desired
- Spread onto cakes, then refrigerate to set
I made one quantity for the crumb coat, a second quantity tinted blue for the ‘ocean’, and a half quantity for under the ‘sand’.
The ‘sand’ is actually not fructose-free. I used Marie biscuits whizzed in a processor until a fine crumb. I’m sure if I looked hard enough I could have bought or made some fructose free biscuits and done the same with them. I just avoided that half of the cake!
The breaking waves are also not fructose-free. It is frosting in a can which I used because it is white and it was in the cupboard.
The mermaid is a Polly Pocket and CrashGirl insisted she sat on the beach rather than in the water. We made sure she didn’t dry out by shading her with a cocktail umbrella ;). The creatures came with the mermaid.
The cake looks a little bare in the photo. I added candles (of course) and piped CrashGirl’s name across the ocean.
Tips:
- Make sure the crumb coat is set before you start on the next layer.
- I did the ocean next and pushed the dolphin in while the mock cream was still soft. I let this layer harden before doing the final layer for the sand so the water’s edge didn’t get all mucky.
- I spread the final layer on and then sprinkled the crumbs on straight away so they stuck.
That’s pretty much it! Everyone loved it and so did I. The cake was beautiful and moist and really enjoyable because it wasn’t all sickly sweet. CrashGirl loved it too, “It’s beautiful Mum”.
My job here is done :)
Laney x
Great Job Laney! I’ve never worked with dextrose but clearly it has the same properties of sugar when it comes to baking principles.
I agree that a sickly sweet cake can be overwhelming to eat.
Sadly I couldn’t see your second photo on my computer…would love to see the whole effect.
I’m glad Crash Girl loved her cake and had a wonderful time at her party.
Di x
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Thanks Di. It’s a little drier than sugar and takes up more liquid and it cook more quickly, but other than that, much the same. I wonder why you couldn’t see the pic? Did did it come up with an error? Can anyone else see it?
Please let me know in the comments if you cant?
My computer was having a hissy fit and being funny about pictures – can see it now. Looks great Laney!
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Oh good! Thanks :)
Hey Laney,
I can see the second picture. Looks great :-)… all these fructose firsts are a bit challenging, but fun to master. I’m trying to figure out how we’ll tackle easter. I think I might be making our own easter eggs… we’ll see how we go.
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Hmm, I’m not sure what to do about Easter either. The kids still have sugar treats, but I try and minimise it. So hard, I’d prefer they ate none at all, but it isn’t always practical. I need to get better at this. I think we might focus on actual decorated eggs for their hunt and maybe see if we can make some fructose-free ones!
Wow, good on you laney! Your commitment to sugar-free is so commendable. And the cake looks fabulous.
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Really interesting to see the recipe for this. When I bake nowadays, I always lessen the amount of sugar required by up to half or else I replace it with, for example, applesauce or banana in the pancakes.
I’ve also just spent the past week testing and experimenting with all sorts of icing for my girls’ birthday cakes using icing sugar, of course, so I was particularly interested to see how you made yours. I know I overdosed big time on the experimenting! I
You’ve made me curious to learn more about your new diet. I did come across this article from Nutrition Australia though (http://www.nutritionaustralia.org/national/frequently-asked-questions/fructose) so it does confuse things a bit for me. In any case, everything in moderation is never a bad thing. I’ve got to see how I can learn to do that with chocolate. I suppose you’ve managed to kick your habit?
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I’ve had a quick read through the article. It would be interesting to get David’s perspective on this. I have learned not to trust many dietary guidelines as they are often strongly influenced by research funded by the big food companies ie Nestle and Coca Cola. Government around the world are also pressured to protect interests like their grain and sugar cane industries. So, you really need to decide for yourself. What I do know is that people around the world are eating less fat, we exercise more (the fitness industry is booming), yet obesity is a bigger problem than ever before. My brother is a personal trainer, and he like many others, agrees that you can’t control your health and weight by exercise alone. It has to be primarily via your diet and sugar is contributing far more calories to burn than fat in many people’s cases. For me, I can’t overlook the benefits. I’m no longer addicted to sugar. I still enjoy chocolate but I don’t crave it. I’ve lost weight, my skin is clearing up and I don’t suffer from bloating or IBS anymore. I’m eating good clean, whole food the majority of the time and I still eat 1-2 pieces of fruit a day. I guess the proof is in the eating.
Cake looks great! And sugar free to boot is just … well, icing on the cake?!?! hahahaha. sorry.
I was curious as to what this “dextrose” was though, thinking anything ending in “ose” was in fact sugar, but I read it is a natural (?) sugar? Is that right? I would be keen to try getting sugar out of our house but it’s everywhere!! Will be looking into this a whole lot more.
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Hi Aroha. Both the cake and the icing were made using dextrose. Dextrose is indeed a sugar. It is a powdered firm if glucose. I avoid fructose and normal sugar ie sucrose is half fructose and half glucose. You can read more about why I quit sugar on my Sugar Crash Challenge page.
Are you now trying to cut down on dextrose if it is sugar? Are there any harmful effects of a lot of dextrose? I can see that replacing 1 sugar for another less harmful 1 is better than nothing and easier than retraining your tastebuds. I’m sorry to sound so critical but it seems like all the sugar free things I read these days promote dextrose and I would love to see healthier options like cooked/ blended sweet fruits (apple, banana, date); agave or molasses.
Hi Vanessa. I hardly eat dextrose. This was a special occasion and yes dextrose is a sugar but not metabolised by your liver and transformed into fat the same way or quantities that fructose is. Blended sweet fruits, agave and molasses are all sweet because of their fructose content. Agave is almost entirely fructose. I don’t believe these are necessarily healthier options. Dextrose is also a natural substance – a starch which is entirely made up of glucose – the fuel our body uses most readily and completely.
Sorry, I just clicked on the link to the cake recipe and then saw the term ‘sugar crash/cravings’ so I misunderstood what you are trying to achieve. I didn’t realise you are avoiding fruit should have read more before commenting!
well done Laney!! It looks like such a lovely cake… and even better that you’ve kept true to your current lifestyle and kept it sugar-free.A great pat on your back :) Happy belated bday to your darling girl too!
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Thanks Ai. It was so yummy. In fact I’m looking forward to a piece with a cup of tea very shortly. Wonder if I can get CrashHubby to oblige? ;)
We have my DD 4th birthday tomorrow. I’m not a fan of dextrose. I ended up using bananas to sweeten the cake. It only has one cup of mashed banana. The frosting is an 80% dark chocolate ganache. It was the best I could do for this year!
That sounds pretty good to me Lucy! The amount of banana per serve would be fine and if you’re going to eat chocolate, which I still do from time to time, the darker the better! I hope you DD has a great 4th birthday :)
Fantastic job, Laney. It looks great!
I’ve been meaning to get Sweet Poison so that I can go cold turkey again on the sugar. Thanks for the reminder!
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Thanks Jayne. The Quit plan has some great recipes. I don’t think I’ll be making too many sweet things though. Too dangerous ;)
Just to comment for those who can’t actually eat fructose (those with fructose intolerance), the recipe uses wheat flour which has fructose in it. Also, for those who seem convinced that sugar (sucrose as well as simple sugars like fructose and glucose/dextrose) is unnatural and unhealthy–this is untrue. Sugar is an important energy source for your body–too much is unhealthy but you still need it. It’s also in just about everything except meat. Medically, I’m unable to eat fructose and that means I have to cut-out or eliminate pretty much all fruits, vegetables, and wheat from my diet. If you want to be malnurished, cut out fructose completely and start loading up on vitamins. So for those who have no reason not to eat sugar, I recommend moderation, not cutting it out completely.
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