Bizzibeans Gluten Free Christmas Fruitcake – Luxurious & Moist Boiled Fruit Cake with Tasty Brandy-Soaked Fruit (No Icing) for Xmas – Vegetarian & Dairy Free – Serves 20 – Round, 8”, Approx 1.4KG

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You can use a food processor to make the initial cake batter, but don’t use it once you’ve added the dried fruit mixture. It’ll start to blend them instead of mixing them! Can I make your gluten-free Christmas cake recipe by hand? As for reasoning? It is quite possibly the flour blend. If the blend is more heavily weighted towards rice and starches, it will be much more drying and if it already has xanthan gum added, it is difficult to assess how much compared to the recipe requirements. I have not tried making the cake with a rice-based blend however, so I cannot be certain. The adjustments (should you want to try again with this recipe) would be to possibly add a very little extra egg or include the psyllium or xanthan gum as stated as well. Or mix up the recommended flour blend (which is nutritious compared to a rice-based blend and offers better structure). Yep! If you follow the instructions above to make this recipe dairy-free,then all you’ve got left to contend with is the eggs. Do not leave out the ground Psyllium Husk powder or Xanthan gum (whichever you choose to use). It is a vital ingredient in a gluten free cake that literally helps hold it together. Leave it out and you may end up with a crumbly mess. Don’t forget about these! (A complete list of other recipes that would be perfect for Christmas that you’ll find in my other books)

Yes! 99% of these recipes are exclusive to this book. As with all my books, the one thing I want everyone to feel is that they got amazing value for their money. Whatever you choose, it is important for the fruit to be soaked in either booze or an alternative both to rehydrate and bring moisture to the bake. Choose your booze… Or alternative. Without gluten to bind the cake batter together, you can be left with a very loose and crumbly sponge texture which won’t work for this recipe. You can mix this up however you like, using amaretto or brandy and whatever quantities of mixed dried fruit that you like. As far as choice of alcohol goes, traditional recipes tend to use Brandy, Sherry or Whisky. But as with the fruit, the choice is yours as long as you choose a spirit with a good alcohol content. Favourites at GFHQ include Calvados (apple brandy), Cointreau (or an alternative orange liqueur) and Amaretti (almond liqueur). The sugarTake a 300mm/12” square of parchment, fold the corners to meet in the middle, press to make folded flaps. This will be used to help stop the top of the cake burning. Try it as a lovely alternative to Christmas cake or mince pie – it makes for a super easy pud – just warm through and add vegan custard or ice cream. Fruited Ginger Cake

You will need an 8in (20cm) loose bottom tin with high sides to it. Here’s a link to the one I use. And… like all good Christmas Cakes, it can be made well in advance of Christmas, so that it is not only at its best for the main event, but leaves you free to plan lots of other gluten free Christmas Treats. Not all Traditional Christmas Cakes are equal – Choosing the best ingredients for YOUR cake Line the base and sides of a 20cm/8” deep, round cake tin with a double layer of parchment or greaseproof paper and pre-heat the oven to 150°C, Fan 130°C, 300°F, Gas 2. Though I’m not opposed to going all out at Christmas, this recipe book doesn’t use tons of super expensive ingredients. It just isn’t in my nature as a home cook and baker! Even if the products don’t contain nuts, they may have a ‘may contain nuts’ warning due to being produced in a factory that handles nuts.A traditional gluten free Christmas Cake would normally have booze in it, both for flavour and preservation. But if the kids are going to eat it, then it’s fine to leave it out and soak the fruit in orange or apple juice before it is added to the cake mixture. If using fruit juice, then avoid adding more (‘feeding’) after the cake is baked and do not store for as long before eating.

Even with the few recipes which don’t provide a veggie or vegan option, they can still usually easily be adapted to be so using the right gluten-free and vegan alternative – so please don’t think it’s impossible! Does the book have low FODMAP recipes in it? What about lactose-free? Our personalised and gorgeous celebration sponge cakes are a wonderful way of wishing a family member or friend happy birthday. Not only do they look great they taste delicioius too which means everyone wants a slice! Our two dimensional designs come in a varitey of bright and funky colours so give us a call if you would like to have a chat about your Mum's favouite shade. This is not a nut-free recipe as it uses almonds and ground almonds. However, you can always feel free to leave out the blanched almonds and replace the ground almonds with more flour. Scatter the granulated sugar over the base of a saucepan and sprinkle the water evenly over the sugar. YES! Just like my other books, ‘Gluten-free Christmas!’ contains easy swaps you can make to adapt the recipes to be dairy-free, low FODMAP, lactose-free and veggie/vegan where possible. It’s super important that as many of you can enjoy my recipes as possible, so I worked really hard on testing all of these swaps!Although making Christmas Cake is pretty straight forward, there are a couple of bits of kit that you will definitely need. Your ‘bog standard’ and old school cakes tend to use currants, sultanas, raisins, cherries and sometimes peel. Occasionally, the tradition is extended to Christmassy cranberries, figs and prunes. But choice of fruit matters… As a child, I avoided Christmas cake like the plague… I later worked out that this was because I hated too many currants and raisins in particular… both of which seemed to be the bulk of the cake.

Alcohol doesn’t necessarily preserve the cake – it’s the sugar in it and storing it in an airtight contain that prevents it from spoiling. So ditching the alcohol for these alternatives shouldn’t have any negative effect. Gluten-free Christmas cake recipe: Method Ideally, traditional Christmas Cake should be made about 2 months before Christmas. This allows plenty of time for the cake to be ‘fed’ with booze or tea and to mature into a perfectly moist and succulent treat. However, anything from a month to two is good.

Ultimately, this is YOUR Christmas cake however… So be as flexible as you wish and choose whatever you love… Although it’s always good to have some of the traditional fruit fare in there, and the fruit must be dried and weighed to an agreed total, the rest is down to choice. Other optional additions could include everything from dried apple or pineapple to walnuts and pecans.