This is a twist on a traditional Christmas cake. Unlike most cakes, it has no added fat or flour and has only minimal unrefined sugar. The fruits are infused with a spicy tea to increase flavour. This cake requires more time to prepare, and for this reason it is great to make other sweet dishes from the residual fruit, such as Christmas truffles and Christmas mince pies. Play your favourite Christmas songs and enjoy the ‘Christmas spirit’ you are creating!
Preheated oven 150c
Pan size approx. 23cm
Ingredients
For fruit mince
• 2 oranges, whole
• Water enough to cover oranges
• 2 ‘Bengal Spice” tea bags or one teaspoon chai tea strained
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 cup dates, pips removed and roughly chopped
• 1 cup sultanas, whole
• ½ cup apricots roughly chopped
• ½ cup figs roughly chopped
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger or powdered ginger
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 large pinch nutmeg
• ½ cup whiskey or ½ cup pure fruit juice
For chia seed mix
• Chia seeds, ½ cup
• Milk of your choice, 1 cup
For main part of cake
• 1 and ½ cups almond meal
• ½ cup coconut sugar
• 1 cup desiccated coconut
• 2 teaspoons sifted gluten free baking powder
• 4 whole eggs brought to room temperature and beaten
• ¼ cup of whole almonds for decoration
• Diced orange rind
Method
For oranges
Ideally, prepare oranges a day or 2 before beforehand to reduce prep time.
Place the washed oranges into a pan of boiling water, covering the fruit, and boil for approx. 90 mins or until soft. Once cool, remove the skins and pips. Retain skins for later use as these can be diced and or cut into very fine strips to be used as decoration.
Place the whole oranges into food processor and puree for a few seconds until a pulp is formed.
For tea
Place tea bags into boiling water and steep. If using Chai, steep, strain and cool. Pour it over chopped fruit and allow the flavour of the tea to infuse and soften the fruit.
For chia mix
Place the chia seeds into bowl and add milk and allow it to swell and soak up moisture. This will take approx. 10 mins, and stir from to time.
For cake
Combine the remaining dry ingredients and the blended chia seed mix into bowl, and stir through and combine well. Then add 2 and ½ cups of the fruit mince, and lastly, the well-beaten eggs. Stir gently by hand.
Pour mix into a paper lined cake tin. Place whole almonds on top of the cake along with orange rind and gently push it into the cake, partially sitting in the mix and still visible.
Bake for 60 mins. Once done, turn the oven off and allow it to sit for 1 and ½ hours. Remove from oven and allow the cake to cool.
Serve
Sprinkle desiccated coconut over with a few whole cherries or strawberries, along with sprigs of mint. The cake can be also cut into small cubes and served with drinks for larger parties. Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for a few days. Alternatively, it can be stored in the freezer for up to a few months.
