Jan’s Mum’s Quick Mix Christmas Cake is a good one. It is full of fruit and free of gluten. Just perfect. It improves with time so is best made a couple of weeks before cutting. It will be even better if you can secrete it away for a couple of months – if you can keep it that long!
Jan
JAN’S MUM’S QUICK MIX CHRISTMAS CAKE
1 kg mixed, dried fruit
2 cups brown sugar
60 ml sherry
1 heaped teaspoon ground ginger
1 heaped teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1/2 teaspoon bi-carb soda
3 eggs, beaten
250 gm butter
1/2 cup milk
1 handful of fresh walnuts
1 teaspoon vanilla paste
1/2 lemon, juice only
2 lemons, zest only
3 cups Revenge plain flour mix (below) or any gluten-free plain flour
3 teaspoons xanthan or guar gum
Extra walnuts for the top
Preheat oven to 125˚C. Butter a 23cm spring form cake tin and line base and sides with baking paper.
Combine fruit and sugar with a wooden spoon. Add sherry, stirring well, and leave to stand overnight.
Mix together spices and bi-carb soda and add to fruit. Combine well before adding the beaten eggs and stir thoroughly.
Heat butter and milk together gently then add to fruit mixture with walnuts, vanilla, lemon juice and zest.
Stir the xanthan or guar gum through the flour and fold into the cake mixture till evenly combined. Spoon into the tin, smooth the top, and press the extra walnuts halves into the surface to decorate.
Cook for 3.5 hours.
The cake is best left for a couple of weeks before cutting and if you can manage to secrete it away somewhere it will keep for months.
Revenge Plain Flour Mix
3 cups fine white rice flour
1 cup fine brown rice flour
2 cups tapioca flour/starch
2 cups potato starch (not flour)
Store in an airtight container. Makes 8 cups.