This is my take on the traditional Christmas cake, with a
few subtle differences (fondant icing use being one of them). This is simply
for ease and I prefer the taste. You could easily substitute the fondant icing
for royal icing.
This recipe is gluten-free and absolutely packed with dried
fruit and nuts. I've suggested a few methods of decoration, as shown by the
accompanying photos. This recipe provides the amounts to make the large, round
cake shown in the photos. The smaller cake was made by halving the quantities
and placing in a 1lb loaf tin.
This recipe can be made in two days, with one day of fruit
soaking and making the cake on the second day, if necessary - so it is perfect
for last minute baking with everything else going on at Christmas time! However,
I'd suggest leaving time for a week of fruit soaking, so that they are nice and
plump with brandy and fruit juice to keep the cake moist.
❄️ Gluten-Free Christmas Cake ❄️
You will need:
For the fruit:
- 500g Dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, chopped apricot etc.)
- 100g Candied peel
- 100g Glacé cherries
- 5tbsp Brandy
- Juice and zest of 1 orange
- Juice and zest of 1 lemon
For the cake:
- 125g Butter
- 50g Muscovado sugar
- 75g Soft brown sugar
- 3 Eggs
- 2tsp Mixed spice
- 1/2 tsp Ground ginger
- Juice and zest of 1 orange
- Juice and zest of 1 lemon
- 160g Gluten-free plain flour
- 1 Green apple (e.g. Granny Smith), grated
- 100g Flaked almonds
For the icing:
- 6 tbsps Apricot jam
- 200g Golden Marzipan
- 300g White fondant icing
For the decoration:
- Icing sugar
- Silver dragées in at least 2 different sizes (I used Asda's own "silver balls" and Dr. Oetker's "chocolate silver pearls")
- Silver edible paint and paintbrush (optional)
Equipment:
- Piping bag and small round nozzle
- Silver cake board
- Snowflake icing embosser (optional)
- Icicle pattern icing embosser (optional) (Mine was free from a magazine called "Cake Decorating")
- Ribbon (optional)
Method:
For the fruit:
- Between 1 day and 1 week before making the cake, soak the dried fruit, candied peel and glacé cherries in the brandy and zest and juice of the lemon and orange in a shallow dish.
- Stir every now and again to ensure that all fruits are fully exposed to the fruity, alcohol syrup which should be developing.
For the cake:
- Preheat the oven to Gas 2/150°C.
- Cream together butter and both types of sugar until fluffy.
- Beat in the eggs, a little at a time.
- Then add mixed spice, ground ginger, orange and lemon rind & juice.
- Fold in the flour.
- Stir in the mixed dried fruits, glace cherries, mixed peel which have been soaking, as well as the syrup they have been soaking in.
- Fold in the almonds and grated apple.
- Place the mixture into a deep, greased, 20cm cake tin and smooth over the top.
- Bake for about 2 hours, or until golden and a knife comes out clean.
- Allow to cool completely in the tin.
For the icing
- Warm the apricot jam in the microwave for about 20s and then pass through a sieve.
- Spread a very small amount onto the cake board, and press the cake onto this.
- Spread half of the remaining jam over the cake.
- Roll out the marzipan and lift it onto the cake, pressing it to the sides and trimming any excess.
- Spread the marzipan with the remaining apricot jam
- Roll out 250g of the white fondant icing and lift this onto the cake, again pressing the sides and trimming the excess.
- Leave the icing to set for a few hours.
For the decoration:
- Combine icing sugar with a small amount of water until a thick, smooth consistency is achieved.
- Place the icing into a piping bag and squeeze a thin line around the base of the cake, slowly pressing a mixture of different sized silver dragées into the icing.
- Silver dragées can also be used to decorate the sides of the cake if pressed into small dots of icing.
Optional extras:
- You could fix a ribbon around the sides of the cake , attaching the ends with a little of the piped icing
- You could press an icicle pattern embosser into the sides of the cake to decorate.
- You could also cut out snowflake patterns with the remaining fondant icing using mould and paint these with edible silver paint.
Hope you enjoy this
recipe.
Merry Christmas!
TOP TIP: Christmas cake is best enjoyed in a daft Christmas jumper and Father Christmas hat!
Merry Christmas!
Love, Chloe xx
~ Follow me on Twitter @CrumbsCakeBlog ~
