Deliciously moist and sticky Christmas cake. This Egg-free, Dairy-free, Gluten-free and Paleo recipe is made with ground almonds, honey and pureed fruit.
I made this cake for a family member who was unable to eat gluten, dairy, sugar, eggs and dried fruit one Christmas (poor chap). The result is a cross between a cake and a pudding, with all the traditional flavours of Christmas.
1 cake
Egg-free Christmas Pudding Cake
Ingredients
- 1 orange
- 250g ready-to-eat prunes
- 250g medjool dates
- 2 tablespoons Brandy
- 400 ml (1 can) coconut milk
- 1/3 cup (90g) honey
- 2 1/2 cups (200g) ground almonds
- 1/2 cup (40g) flaked almonds
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
for the nut topping:
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 tablespoons Brandy
- 12 pecan halves
- 9 brazil nuts
- 7 walnut halves
Instructions
- Put the orange in a pan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer and cook for 2 hours. Drain, then slice into quarters. Remove any pips, then place the whole lot – skin, flesh and pith – into a food processor and blitz.
- Preheat the oven to 160°C/320°F. Lightly grease the sides of a 20cm/8″ round, deep and loose-bottomed cake tin with coconut oil, and line the bottom with baking paper.
- Remove the stones from the dates and prunes, and chop finely. Put the dates, prunes, brandy and coconut milk into a saucepan. Bring almost to the boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat, then stir in the honey.
- Combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl (ground almonds, flaked almonds, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, salt). Tip in the prune and date mixture, and add the boiled orange mixture. Mix well with a wooden spoon until fully blended.
- Pour the mixture into the cake tin. Rest a double layer of tin foil on top of the cake tin to prevent the top of the cake from over-browning. Bake in the preheated oven for 2 hours. Remove the tin foil, then bake for a further 20 minutes.
- Wait until the cakes have cooled for 30 minutes before running a palette knife around the sides and turning out onto a wire cooling rack.
- Once the cake has cooled, you can add the nut topping. Heat a dry frying pan over a medium heat. Add the nuts and lightly toast until they become aromatic – about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, put the honey and Brandy in a saucepan. Heat gently for 2 minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon to blend. Brush the top of the cake with the honey and Brandy glaze, then arrange the toasted nuts on top. Once you are happy with your nut arrangement, spoon the remaining glaze evenly over the top.
