A Christmas cake is a staple in my house for Christmas, as I’m sure it is in most. This cake is super fruity, super moist and the molasses gives it that alcohol taste without having to use any. That being said, feel free to feed this cake as you normally would.
Timing: 30 minutes preparation, 2 ½ hours cooking plus a good few hours of cooling (I let mine cool overnight).
Ingredients
Cake
Fruit Mixture:
1kg dried fruit (I use mixed peel, raisins, sultanas and dates)
Zest and juice of one orange
Zest and juice of one lemon
200g coconut sugar
2 tablespoons blackstrap molasses
3 tablespoons coffee and cacao
150ml nut milk
200g coconut oil
Cake Ingredients
200g buckwheat/plain flour
100g ground almonds
2 teaspoons mixed spice
1 teaspoon ground ginger
Pinch of Salt
4 tablespoons chia seed and 160ml cold water (or 4 eggs)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon almond extract
Icing
260g cashew nuts (soaked overnight in cold water)
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon coconut sugar
1 tablespoon ground almonds
Pinch of salt
3 teaspoons almond extract (this is optional but I like the marzipan flavour)
Method
Cake
1. Add all of the fruit mixture ingredients to a pan, other than the coconut oil, and start to heat. Once the sugar is dissolved and everything is looking nice and sticky, add the coconut oil (this step is optional and you can just add the coconut oil with everything else but coconut sugar doesn’t always dissolve in coconut oil very well).
2. Bring the mixture to the boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat and simmer the mixture for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom. After 5 minutes the mixture should be deliciously thick and sticky.
3. Remove from the heat and pour into a large mixing bowl (we will be adding the rest of the ingredients to this mixture so make sure the bowl is very large!) and leave to cool.
4. If you aren’t using eggs, combine the chia seeds and cold water in a small bowl and stir through. Leave this to thicken for about ten minutes.
5. In a separate bowl, combine the buckwheat flour (or plain flour), ground almonds, spices and salt. Stir through with a fork to make sure everything is well combined and lump free.
6. Add the dry ingredients to the fruit mix and stir well.
7. Add the vanilla extract, almond extract and chia mix and again stir well. I like to use an electric whisk at this point as it ensures everything is combined with no pockets of the dry mixture. (It’s also a lot easier on the wrists!)
8. Pour into a cake tin greased and lined with 2 layers of greaseproof paper. This step is important as the mixture is very sticky!
9. Place in the oven and cook for around 2 ½ hours. As the heat is low the top shouldn’t burn but do keep an eye on it. You can always cover with foil if it looks like it’s going that way.
10. Allow to cool completely in the cake tin. I find it best to leave it overnight.
Icing
1. Blend all of the ingredients in a blender until smooth!
Decoration
1. If you are just using the cashew icing then just spread it over the top of the cake and enjoy!
2. If you are using roll on icing, spread the cashew icing all over the cake (top and sides). Place in the fridge for about half an hour.
3. Sprinkle icing sugar on the worktop. Knead the roll-on icing before rolling out with a rolling pin. Once rolled to the right size, use the rolling pin to lift the icing over the cake.
4. Smooth the icing over the cake, cutting off any extra bits.
5. Marvel and your work and enjoy!