Budget-busting Christmas cake

MARK DWYER

Nuts for nuts: Richard Swinbourne says New Zealanders don't eat enough nuts.

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With Christmas looming, I have been on the lookout for an inexpensive and healthy Christmas cake recipe.

With the average Christmas cake costing up to $35,  I borrowed this fruit cake recipe off my dietitian colleague Richard Swinbourne, who runs a community dietetic clinic for Peak Health at the Waitara Health Centre and added the good old spices and nuts to turn it into a tasty and heart-healthy Christmas cake.

Best of all, it contains no fat or salt and is packed full of vitamins and minerals with no added sugar. 

Everyone seems to love its taste and moistness.

The sweetness comes from 1 cup of fruit juice and the fruit, so it is suitable for people with diabetes, high  cholesterol and athletes, too.

Kendall and Richard's Christmas Cake

Total cost $12

1kg Tasti Christmas fruit mix or 1 kg dried fruit

1 cup orange juice

1 cup black tea

2 cups wholemeal flour

3 tsp baking powder

70g slivered almonds (small packets in the baking section of the supermarket)

70g walnuts pieces

2 generous tsp cinnamon

2 generous tsp mixed spice

2 tsp vanilla essence

1/ Soak the fruit in tea preferably overnight, but at least for a couple of hours.

2/ Preheat oven to 160[Degree] fan bake. Place the rack just under halfway.

3/ Line the bottom and sides of a 20cm square cake tin with baking paper.

4/ Mix in the remaining ingredients except for the almonds with soaked fruit.

5/ Sprinkle with slivered almonds. Bake for approximately 1 1/2 hours or until a skewer stuck into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

6/ Cool, then cut into small fingers as required

Richard took this cake to the NZ Sevens team this year and the boys hooked into it after training. He said coach Gordon Titjeins beat them to it - he was quite partial. It is carbohydrate rich, so makes an excellent recovery snack when paired with a protein drink.

The cake is pretty when decorated with nuts and Richard encourages everyone to eat nuts more often.

Nuts are nature's heart pills and we don't eat enough of them in New Zealand. Research shows they can more than halve your risk of heart disease if you eat them regularly, drop your cholesterol by 10 per cent and even help people lose weight. They are full of protein and heart-healthy oils, so they make a filling and satisfying snack, meaning you eat fewer calories overall.

A nice prescription is 30g or a small handful of plain unsalted, unroasted nuts each day. Include 2-4 brazil nuts to meet your selenium needs, too. Brazil nuts and almonds work particularly well with this cake and it is a great thing to get children involved with making.

Some of Richard's work involves running cooking sessions with the Active Families programme, which aims to instil healthy lifestyle habits in young people by bringing the whole family on board.

He had a lot of fun with this cake last Christmas. About 12 children had a decorating session with a big version of this cake. The result was a piece of art.

* Kendall North has her own business working as a dietitian and sports nutritionist, as well as teaching group fitness classes at City Fitness gym. As part of her nutrition work, she offers cooking classes. She will come to your home and teach groups of up to eight how to cook healthy and nutritious meals quickly and on a budget. To contact her, email kendall.north@gmail.com.