Mesquite Orange Brandy Cake

This moist cake can be a marvelous addition to your Holiday celebrations.  It reminds me a little of my grandmothers fruitcake, just not with all the high-carb candied fruit bits.  This cake has been modified several times now and I think I’ve finally gotten the ingredients just about right.  Even my husband thought this cake had a nice texture and deep, rich flavor (thanks to the slight “smoky” taste of mesquite flour).  And trust me, he is NOT a fan of cakes with this much fruit and nuts in them.

Mesquite flour has a hint of a smoke taste to me, although you might not find it so.  This cake is light and fluffy, and not dense at all like classic fruit cakes we quickly learned to dislike.  I think the addition of the oat fiber plays a major role in texture here, so don’t omit that. I order oat fiber and mesquite flour from Netrition.com.  Nuts.com also carries mesquite flour http://www.mesquiteflour.com/. This recipe is not acceptable until the grains rung of OWL.  This cake was baked in an 8½” x 3″ round silicone cake pan shown below:

INGREDIENTS:

7/8 stick butter (7 T.)

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. CarbQuik bake mix (or Jennifer Eloff’s Gluten Free Bake Mix for gluten-free)

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 while mixing up 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 silicone sunflower-shaped pan that is about 3″ deep).  Bake in a preheated 350º oven for 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.  As with most low-carb baked goods, store leftovers in the refrigerator to avoid spoilage.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Serves 12, each serving contains:

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