Non-cake cake?

[onehsancare]

I've been asked to do a wedding cake for some dear friends who are members of Overeaters Anonymous. It will be a very small wedding, maybe 30 attendees. Most of the attendees will also be OA members. None of them has the same eating plan as anyone else, but the most universal limit seems to be NO SWEETS.

They've categorically rejected a meat cake,since they really had a baked good in mind, to take the place of a wedding cake--bride and groom to cut it, everyone to get a piece, etc.

Some of the guests don't eat bread, some don't eat white flour, most don't eat sugar. Unless I can come up with a water cake, I don't think there's any chance of meeting everyone's restrictions, but I'd like to go back to them with a couple more ideas.

I was thinking maybe cornbread? Maybe cornbread with rolled fondant, which could be pulled away and not eaten, but I don't know how that would fit with the no sweets rule. I'm checking on that with them, but any ideas would be welcome.

Thanks.

[merstar]

How about a smoked salmon cheesecake or another type of savory cheesecake?

Edited June 20, 2007 by merstar (log)

[petite tête de chou]

Perhaps you could make a layered "cake" with baked meringue (using a sugar substitute) and tons of fresh, beautiful fruit.

[MomOfLittleFoodies]

How about adapting a bran muffin into a cakelike thing?

[miladyinsanity]

How about a showstopper jello dessert?

It is a water cake, of sorts. And there's sugar-free Jello available, I think.

Edited June 20, 2007 by miladyinsanity (log)

[jumanggy]

Ooh, I second the jello (unflavored gelatin and unsweetened fruit juice)-- the meringue idea sounds great too. Make it glisten with, er, more gelatin.

[lilsouthernhottie]

How about a carob (kinda chocolatey...i guess...) tofu "cake"?

I found a recipe here:http://www.yogaoasis.org/offerings/recipes.shtml

[prasantrin]

Many moons ago, when rfc was a place to talk about food, there was Susan Hattie's Goat Cheese Torta. It's not baked, but it's moulded so it could take on a cake-like form, and it can be served with anything on the side--vegetables for the non-flour eaters, crackers for the flour eaters, etc., and it isn't sweet. It would be pretty, too, I think.

[rooftop1000]

Tiered lifts draped with cloths, with a cascade of fresh fruit maybe starting with a carved watermelon on top then using clear dishes on lower levels. Maybe decorated with a garland of white flowers.

Could serve meringues and maybe a flavored mascarpone dip alongside.

maybe.. I used maybe to many times

tracey

[K8memphis]

Maybe, maybe not, Tracey

Geez what a mind grinder!

Yah, polenta slices nice. But would you want to eat it cold?

I really like Tracey's ideas.

Even with real cakes, the stand often can make the cake. Just like a picture frame can make a painting. And you can incorporate all the ideas into one of those multi-level covered with floaty stuff stands like she said. Umm, you can get those at Sam's. At least they used to carry them.

Bitter chocolate covered fruits?

[hummingbirdkiss]

do a spicy pumpkin cheesecake and top it with vanilla scented heavy whipping cream with vanilla ...mix sweeteners I use half cyclamates half splenda and a pinch of stevia

this is totally low carb and does not trigger even the worst sugar junky as far as I know

Edited June 20, 2007 by hummingbirdkiss (log)

[hummingbirdkiss]

almost forgot you can do a pecan or walnut crust with ground walnutss some sweetener and melted butter

just bake a little lower than you usually do to avoid burning the nuts...obvious but I did it

[pennylane]

How about something like this chocolate spelt cake? You could use sweetener instead of the sugar?

I also found this recipe for unsweetened cake a while back, which I am planning to try but haven't gotten around to it yet:

UNSWEETENED CAKE

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate

½ cup shortening

6 ounces frozen unsweetened apple juice

2 eggs

1 cup all purpose flour

¾ cup whole wheat flour

½ teaspoon soda

½ teaspoon salt

1½ teaspoons baking powder

¾ cup milk

Mix together and bake at 350° for 30 minutes.

It looks really good to me. But I must say the pumpkin cheesecake is a grand idea. You can even use low-fat cream cheese. I have tried that and it came out very well.

[lenabo]

What about vegetable cake? Like this

Thre are mashed potatoes as frosting-icing, and inside there are meat, vegetables, I can't remember what. It is like an idea.

[Terrasanct]

I was also going to suggest cheesecake made with Splenda. It's as good as the "real" thing and could be decorated, too.

[The Old Foodie]

How about a risotto cake? Make risotto - flavour as wished (carob? fruit? cook it with juice not stock? nuts? vanilla? ????) Pour it into a dish and let it set ('congeal'). Perhaps if some egg was added while it was warm, it might be better. Might be like a cheesecake idea but with a bit more substance and be a bit more 'cakey'.

A crumb crust?

Does this sort of thing already exist?

[grahamR]

What you need is a miracle.

(eGullet reference.)

[Porthos]

How about something like this chocolate spelt cake

UNSWEETENED CAKE

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate

½ cup shortening

6 ounces frozen unsweetened apple juice

2 eggs

1 cup all purpose flour

¾ cup whole wheat flour

½ teaspoon soda

½ teaspoon salt

1½ teaspoons baking powder

¾ cup milk

←

A lot of OA members don't do any white flour products.

Edited June 21, 2007 by Porthos (log)

[gfron1]

I think this could be a top 10 most difficult eGullet request!

What about a pavlova sweetened with stevia? That would be really pretty, would have no flour or sugar, just sweetened meringued egg whites and fresh fruit. If you wanted the custard filling, then you could use a mascarapone, again sweetened with stevia.

[MelissaH]

If many people don't eat sweets of any kind, I'd steer clear of anything that's sweet, even if it's made that way with artificial sweeteners, unless the people who are ordering the cake specifically tell you it would be OK.

I'd look into some kind of savory cheesecake or torta, possibly even a round of Brie that could be decorated? I wonder if it would be possible to do a terrine, or a set of terrines, that might fit the bill. lenabo's idea of a vegetable cake is also quite intriguing. I think the trick will be to come up with something gorgeous-looking that fits the general shape of a wedding cake, that can be made just as frilly as a wedding cake typically is, and that can be cut by the happy couple just like an ordinary cake. In any case, DEFINITELY go for the beautiful cake stand and decorated table.

MelissaH

[Luckylies]

I think this could be a top 10 most difficult eGullet request!

What about a pavlova sweetened with stevia?  That would be really pretty, would have no flour or sugar, just sweetened meringued egg whites and fresh fruit.  If you wanted the custard filling, then you could use a mascarapone, again sweetened with stevia.

←

I second pavlova!

insted of whipped cream you could make a vanilla pudding with splenda as sweetener? lots of fresh fruit on top... the only real sugar would be in the meringue...

[emilyr]

When my mom was on Atkins, we made meringue cookies with Splenda. I think large, gradually smaller layers of this piled with fresh fruit, would make a great "non-cake cake." It would still be sweet, but not sugar-y, so it would feel like a wedding cake, and it could still be cut like one too. You could also maybe do some sort of vegan, splenda instead of sugar, whole wheat and fruit muffin tree (instead of the oh-so-trendy cupcake tree).

[Tri2Cook]

I guess I need a little clarification on what "no sweets" means. Do you mean no added sugar or nothing that's even remotely sweet (like fruit)? If fruit's not off the list you could do a little experimenting with bread substitutes to eliminate the white flour and do some type of summer pudding. With the right fruit choices you could eliminate the need for sugar or sugar substitutes.

[K8memphis]

Go real easy with the stevia.

[plk]

You could try a bunch of small single servings of fruit parfait, presented on a cupcake or cake tier. Small clear cups (disposable would be easiest) with fruit on the bottom, nonfat vanilla yogurt (or whipped topping) in the middle, more fruit, and then whipped topping on the top. There are some soy-based ones that are actually pretty good. Fruit isn't the lowest calore food there is, but it's not junk either.

My other thought would be some sort of modified carrot cake with a soy cream cheese topping. Or, there's a carrot cake in the Voluptuous Vegan cookbook (you can view the recipe online by searching for it inside the book on Amazon) that's actually pretty good. That one has a coconut-cardamom sauce for a topping, and it is really tasty. Maybe the recipe could be sufficiently de-calorized or just presented in small portions.