Christmas Cake Recipe - A Family Favorite

I absolutely love Christmas cake and this is a family-favorite that I thought I would share with the Xtend-Life family.

Everyone loves a dense moist fruit cake and this recipe has a high ratio of fruit – meaning no need to use additional sugar. The ground almond meal is also a great alternative to traditional white refined flours. It is gluten free and can be made a day before consumption.

For those that wish to soak your cake in orange liqueur, as soon as you remove it from the oven, skewer holes through the cake and drizzle over ¼ cup orange liqueur so it can penetrate through the holes and infuse thoroughly. Alternatively, you can also soak the fruit in whiskey.

The combination of vanilla, orange and cinnamon is a perfect marriage in Christmas desserts and this cake can be served warm as a pudding with vanilla bean custard or thick natural yogurt.

Gluten Free Family-favorite Christmas Cake

Prep Time: 20min
Total Time: 2 hours
Serves:16-20 small portions

Ingredients:

• 600 g mixed dried fruit or a mix of the following (raisins, prunes, figs, apricot, currants, sultanas, dates)
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean extract or paste
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• Zest and juice of 1 orange
• 3 tablespoons olive/macadamia oil
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups ground almonds/ almond flour
• 50 g walnuts

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 150 C (fan forced).
2. Prepare an 18cm round cake tin with baking paper lining the sides and the base.
3. Combine dried fruit, spice, vanilla, orange zest+ juice, olive oil and eggs.
4. Add the almonds and walnuts and mix through.
5. Spoon the batter into your baking tin
6. Bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Check with a skewer to see if it comes out clean.
7. Cover the top if necessary to prevent over-browning.
8. Cool, then remove the tin and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 month.

For those allergic to nuts, you can replace it with 1 cup wholemeal spelt flour. Please add additional ¼ cup olive/nut oil and 1 teaspoon baking powder if doing so.

Wishing you all a happy holiday season!

In good health.