Healthy Christmas Cake

CHRISTMAS CAKE

It's December and we can now all officially get excited for Christmas without being judged! I love this time of year - there seems to be a wonderful spirit in the air as people start their Christmas shopping, attend Christmas carol services and spend time with loved ones. Its also an amazing time where people feel they can be generous and really take up the 'it's better to give than receive' outlook on life.

This week I am providing a healthier alternative Christmas cake recipe for you, to share with friends, family, work colleagues or whoever you desire! Around this time of year, it can be difficult to stay on track with getting that balanced lifestyle between good food and exercise, which you may be able to control more at other points during the year! I won't lie to you all, or pretend to be this amazingly healthy figure - but I definitely indulge at Christmas - my sister was commenting the other day to me on just how much I eat at Christmas!

However, there are small adjustments you can make to your usual Christmas treats, one of which is this yummy Christmas cake! This cake contains no added sugar, plenty of wholegrain and no dairy. For the vegans reading this, you can substitute the eggs for flax eggs, to make this recipe suit you! The sweetness naturally comes from the large amount of dried fruit packed into this cake, and from the coconut oil - giving it a softer flavour, rather than using olive oil (which adds a more herbal note). Obviously, if you want to make this a healthier option you should opt for the non-iced version, but the iced version is there as well for those eager decorators among us. Both options are incredibly tasty and provide a wonderful addition to your Christmas dessert buffet!

Things to note:

- Due to the lack of alcohol in this cake, it cannot be made months in advance like traditional cakes can.

- There is no need to worry about the moistness of the cake because of the lack of alcohol - the moistness comes from the orange and coconut oil and works perfectly!

- Suitable for freezing for approx 4 weeks (non-iced) - however, please be aware that freezing the cake will reduce the cakes moistness.

---

Serves: 16. Cooking Time: 1 hour 30 minutes + decorating time

INGREDIENTS

• 550 g dried fruit (you can use a bag of pre-mixed fruit or get creative and choose your own individually)

• 1 whole peeled orange

• 3 eggs (or flax eggs)

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

• ½ teaspoon ground ginger

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves

• ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

• 120 g melted cold pressed coconut oil

• 100 g wholemeal plain flour

• 80 g whole almonds (optional)

For an iced Christmas cake:

• 750g marzipan

• 900g 'ready to roll' fondant icing'

• Icing sugar for rolling

• Any other Christmas cake decorations of choice!

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 150°C/300°F.

2. Combine dried fruits and about a third of the almonds if you are doing a non-iced version of the cake (optional) into a large mixing bowl or all the almonds if you are doing an iced version.

3. Crack eggs into a blender.

4. Add the peeled whole orange, vanilla extract, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon and cloves into the blender.

5. Blend until this mixture is smooth and combined.

6. Pour the orange/egg mixture over the top of the dried fruits.

7. Add melted coconut oil to the bowl, then mix in well.

8. Add wholemeal flour and baking soda and mix through.

9. Line an 8 inch baking tin with baking paper and spoon in the cake mix and level over the top.

10. If you are making a non-iced Christmas cake then decorate the top of the cake with the rest of the almonds now.

11. Bake for approx. 1 hour or until cake is cooked through.

12. Remove from the oven and cool cake on a cooling rack and enjoy!

For an iced Christmas cake:

1. When rolling out the marzipan, dust the work surface and rolling pin with icing sugar to stop it sticking. Roll out the marzipan to a large circular shape. Aim for the marzipan layer to slightly larger in diameter than the cake, to avoid having to patch up the cake.

2. Brush the cake over with water, then cover it with marzipan.

3. Trim the edges neatly, and smooth the marzipan with your hands or a specialist icing smoother tool.

4. When rolling out the royal icing, as before - dust the work surface and rolling pin with icing sugar to stop it sticking. Roll out the royal icing to a large circular shape. Aim for the icing layer to slightly larger in diameter than the cake, to avoid having to patch up the cake.

5. Brush the marzipan layer of the cake over with water, then cover it with the royal icing.

6. Trim the edges neatly, and smooth the royal icing with your hands or a specialist icing smoother tool.

7. Decorate as desired (in the pictures, I have decorated with a variety of shaped stars, cut out from red royal icing and arranged, in the shape of a Christmas tree, gold edible balls and white icing snowflakes. I have finished it off with a ribbon around the edge and a silver glitter spray all over) and enjoy!

Happy Baking!

Ruth xxx