Allergy-friendly Fruit Cake

Fruit cake is one of those classic bits of baking: like a Victoria Sponge or Bakewell Tart, a fruit cake is a quintessentially English affair.  Dense, moist and, most importantly, packed full of dried fruit, the basic fruit cake can be elaborated upon to produce a more seasonal variation – Christmas Cake and Simnel Cake both being pimped up fruit cakes in disguise, while a Tea Loaf and a Brack are more of a pared down affair.  Like most baking, they are a tea-time treat, set off best by a pot of Darjeeling or Ceylon and a sit down with friends and family.  Although, if you’re super keen, and I know that some really are, then fruit cake is pretty much a free for all, it having the benefit of lasting for quite some time and therefore being fair game whenever the mood takes you. 

There are usually a few steps and processes involved in their making: creaming, folding, layering; and that’s where this cake varies – that, and the fact that it’s completely allergy-free!  This particular fruit cake is incredibly simple to make and really takes little more than a simmer and a stir before you abandon it to the oven to do its work.  By simmering the dried fruit in water, sugar and the necessary margarine, you plump up the fruit to all its sweet glory and allow the cake to stay moist when baked.   I would also recommend that you make it the day before you want it, being left only adds to the flavour and allows the outer crust of the cake to soften slightly. Once ready, you then have a myriad of choices: dust with icing sugar (as seen here), drizzle over a Vanilla or Almond Icing or swathe in a layer of marzipan.  The choice is yours but I highly recommend you make it for the Easter holiday, it’s just the thing to last you through the long-weekend and provide a little respite from the chocolate bombardment that you may be experiencing.  Having said that, if you want chocolate, then I highly recommend these, or indeed, these.

FRUIT CAKE

You will need a 7 inch round cake tin with removable base for this recipe

350g mixed dried fruit – I used a combination of sultanas, raisins, cranberries and cherries

100g golden caster sugar

100g dairy-free margarine

4 tbsp ground flaxseed mixed with 6 tbsp water and ¼ tsp baking powder

150ml water

225g gluten free self-raising flour

Preheat the oven to 150c and lightly grease and line the cake tin.

Place the dried fruit, water, caster sugar and margarine in a saucepan and heat over a medium flame, while stirring, until the margarine has dissolved into the liquid.  Cover and simmer gently for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine the ground flaxseed, water and baking powder in a small bowl, stir together and leave to thicken.

Once the fruit has cooked, remove from the heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes.  Next, place the fruit and liquid into a large mixing bowl, stir in the flaxseed mixture until combined and then quickly stir in the flour until completely mixed through. 

Spoon the cake mixture into the tin, level the top with the back of as spoon and then bake for 1 ¼ - 1 ½ hours until golden brown and cooked through.  Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 30 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.  Once cooled, store in an airtight tin until ready to use.

Pear Mince Pies

What can I say about Christmas that hasn’t already been said?  The bite of cold and snowy days; the glow of warming log fires and the scent of mulled spices.  The warm hues of twinkling fairy lights glittering out from frosted window panes and the clamorous gathering of friends and family.  The rustle of wrapping paper and the soft touch of woollen gloves and cold cheeks to kiss.  Feasts of rich, hearty food and the aroma of freshly baked mince pies, cinnamon and orange.  This, to me, is what Christmas is made of.

The original pagan aspects of Christmas relied on three main elements: the preparing of food and drink to mark the midpoint of winter, a time when provisions could be relied on to last until the last few days of the cold months and so the remainder of fare could be pooled together to provide a celebratory feast.  Secondly, the tradition of bringing branches of evergreen into the home in order continue the cycle of growth and existence and to encourage spring to weave its way back.  Thirdly, the habit of lighting the home with candles represented the warmth of life: keeping the harsh winter at bay and keeping your loved ones safe and sound.  These traditions have been adopted and evolved since their first beginnings but the essence is always the same: food, light and decoration to celebrate this wonderful time of year.

Mince pies are a rather fundamental part of Christmas traditions, but for the food sensitive of this world they are often squarely off the menu.  I would like to think that you could make a batch of these little fruit numbers and relish in their taste texture much as you would the real thing.  The pears do a rather incredible job when cooked down to form a thick, binding foil to the dried fruit, much as suet would do.  For this reason it is pretty fundamental that you use as riper pears as possible – if they are hard they won’t break down properly and will leave you with a lovely tasting, but slightly chunky filling.  I cannot lay claim to the marvellous pear mincemeat from this recipe, the original stems from a book by Xanthe Clay called It’s Raining Plums.  It is a collection of recipes sent to her by readers over years while in her position as food writer for the Telegraph.  I love this book; it’s full of wonderful little gems and would make a rather lovely Christmas present for any keen foodie.

As you can see, I have made two styles of mince pies: the mini starred variety and the classic covered version.  You will need a 2 inch circular cutter and 1 inch starred cutter for the first, or a fluted 3 inch and 2 inch circular cutter for the latter.

PEAR MINCE PIES

Makes around 24 mince pies

For the pastry

225g/8oz Doves Farm Gluten Free Plain Flour

55g/2oz butter replacement (Pure Sunflower Spread)

55g/2oz vegetable shortening (Trex Vegetable Fat)

½ tsp xantham gum

2 – 3tbsp cold water

25g/1oz caster sugar

For the pear mincemeat

900g/2lb ripe pears

100g/3½oz golden and dark raisins

100g/3½oz sultanas

125g/4oz dried apricots, roughly chopped

50g/2oz soft light brown sugar

The zest and juice of ½ a orange and lemon

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp mixed spice

¼ tsp ground ginger

2½ tbsp dark rum

Begin by preparing the mincemeat:  peel and core each pear and chop into small cubes.  Combine the pear pieces, sugar, dried fruit, orange, lemon and spices in a heavy based pan and bring to the boil.  Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring regularly to ensure the mixture doesn’t catch and burn.  Uncover the pan and continue to gently simmer the mixture over a low heat for a further 20 – 30 minutes or until it is very thick in texture. Stir in the rum and continue to cook gently for another 5 minutes.  Once cooked, set aside while you make the pastry.

Preheat the oven to 180c (160c Fan).  Place the flour, xantham gum, butter replacement and vegetable fat in the food processor and blitz until the mixture is of a breadcrumb like consistency.  Add the caster sugar to the dough and blitz briefly.  Tip in the cold water, tablespoon by tablespoon, blending as you go, until the mixture begins to form a dough, or the breadcrumbs begin to stick together. 

Turn the mixture in to a large mixing bowl and, using the tips of your fingers, pull together into a ball of dough.  Knead the dough for around 3 minutes, until it is smooth and elastic to your touch. Lay the pastry between two large layers of clingfilm (this is the best tip I could offer you, it makes rolling out allergy pastry so much easier) and roll the pastry out to your required size - always ensuring that the pastry becomes no thinner than 2 -3mm.  Peel off the uppermost layer of clingfilm and, using your circle cutter, cut out the pie bases.  Carefully fit the pastry circles in to their cases, gently filling in any cracks or gaps that may appear with extra pastry, patted flat with your fingertips. 

Fill each tart with a heaped tea spoon of mincemeat, ensuring that you get a good amount of juice in each tart. Ball up the remaining pastry and roll out again – still using the clingfilm technique – and using your pastry cutter of choice, cut out the tops of the pies.  Lay the pastry top over the pies and bake in the oven for 20 minutes until the pastry is crisp and.  Remove from the oven, lift out the pies and leave to cool on a wire rack until ready to eat.