Fruitcake, the perennial Christmas treat that most people love to hate, incorporates toasted nuts, dried fruits and spices in a confection that calls to mind winter menus and holiday festivities. Traditionally, it also contained plenty of refined sugar in the cake and candied fruits used to decorate it. Commercial and home-baked versions without added sugar fit well into your diet plan if you're moderating your sugar intake.
Traditional Fruit Cakes
Historically, dried, preserved and candied fruits were all that bakers had available throughout the late fall and winter months. With no access to fresh produce, cooks became creative with stored goods for winter feasts. Nuts provided a crunchy contrast to preserved fruits, while spices enlivened the flavor of the cake. According to the Village Voice, in the 16th century sugar arrived in Europe, and soon after the inevitable discovery of its virtues as a natural preservative -- soaking diced fruit in it kept the small morsels tender and soft. The traditional fruitcake we enjoy today contains anywhere from 300 to 600 calories per 100-gram serving, about 60 grams of which are carbohydrates.
Sugarfree Versus "No Sugar Added"
A truly sugarfree fruitcake could contain no fruit, as all fruit contains natural sugars. However, most of the natural sugar in fruit comes in the form of fructose and glucose, not sucrose, the chemical name for refined table sugar. Recipes that include only dried or juice-packed canned fruit and that rely on non-sucrose sweeteners contain no added sugar. If you have diabetes or must otherwise monitor your sugar intake closely, you must still count the natural sweetness of the fruits in the fruitcake, but you'll consume less sugar than you would if you used candied fruit and granulated sugar.
Commercial Fruitcakes
Sugarfree fruitcakes from commercial bakeries have access to sugarless sweeteners that you would find difficult to buy as a home baker. Sugar alcohols, compounds that have a sweet flavor but provide fewer calories than sugar, give commercial no-sugar-added fruitcakes a sweet taste. Look for the inclusion of sorbitol and malitol, two popular sugar alcohols often used to sweeten baked goods without raising glycemic levels. Commercial fruitcakes typically have a high percentage of nuts; they naturally contain no sugar, so adding more of them to the cake reduces the amount of natural sugar in each slice.
Homemade Fruitcakes
If you bake your own fruitcake, you control its sweetness. Incorporating dried fruits such as dates, raisins and figs lets you eliminate candied fruits packed in added sugar. Dried fruits that naturally contain little sugar, such as cranberries and apricots, add fiber and nutrition to the cake without boosting the sugar content. Unsweetened juice concentrates and applesauce impart sweetness to the cake surrounding the fruit and nuts, but contain no sucrose. Pack your fruitcake full of nuts and decorate it with toasted almonds or walnuts in attractive patterns rather than using candied fruit bits for decoration.
