Gluten-Free, Vegan Christmas Cake is a brilliant thing. It tastes great, it smells great, you can decorate it in lots of ways and it keeps forever. When you bake Gluten-Free, Vegan Christmas Cake your home is filled with the most wonderful spicy, warm, Christmassy smell. In October or November. Baking a Gluten-Free, Vegan Christmas Cake starts the silly season of Christmas parties, meeting friends and generally going a bit crazy.
What’s The Deal With Christmas Cake???
Christmas cake as we know it today, a heavy fruit cake, possibly originates from cakes baked for two Christian feast days: Twelfth Night and/ or Easter.
Going back five-hundred years to the sixteenth century… A thick meaty porridge, with dried fruit added, was made on Christmas Eve to fill up hungry stomachs after a long day of fasting for the religious holiday. Dried fruit and sugar were scarce, but dried apples and plums used in the porridge made for a special holiday porridge. A practice developed that when Christmas puddings were being made, some of the mixture was used make and bake a cake to be kept for Twelfth Night and Easter.
The last day of Christmas is Twelfth Night (05 January). Twelfth Night cake traditionally contained almonds and was covered in marzipan. Oliver Crowell, the Lord Protector of England, and other Puritans banned the feasting on Twelfth Night in the 1640s (mince pies and all fancy feasts were also banned). There was just too much excess! Christmas Day remained a public holiday and some feasting was allowed. Apparently, people simply made Christmas cake and covered that in marzipan (made from ground almonds) instead. Ta da! The Christmas cake as we know it today – sort of.
By the eighteenth century, sugar and dried fruit had become more readily available and were used in larger amounts in puddings and cakes. The meat, vegetables, oatmeal and whole wheat that were staple ingredients were decreased or skipped entirely being replaced for sweeter ingredients and even breadcrumbs or fine flour.
Many of todays puddings and desserts were originally made with meat and vegetables – the name ‘mincemeat’ is still used as it used to contain minced meat. Yum!
My Favourite Gluten-Free, Vegan Christmas Cake????
Christmas Cake isn’t just for Christmas – it can be for any celebration or party. A Christmas Cake doesn’t need to be a fruit cake either. It can be anything you want. The great thing about fruit cakes is that they store really well for several months. So if you want to ‘feed’ your cake with sherry you can make it now. The earlier the better…
I love Gluten-Free, Vegan Christmas Cake. Here are my suggestions for celebration cakes for Christmas, weddings, birthdays or any kind of party or celebration. With the exception of the Gluten-Free, Vegan Christmas Cake all the other suggestions should be make around the time of the celebration. All totally Gluten-Free | Vegan | Allergy-Friendly | Seasonal …and… coconut-free.
Gluten-Free, Vegan Christmas Cake
This is my Gluten-Free, Vegan Christmas Cake recipe. I have been making it for years. It never lets me down. I usually vary the type of fruit each year depending on what I have in the cupboard, what I fancy that year and what is on offer!!!
I also feed my Gluten-Free, Vegan Christmas Cake with sherry or triple sec over the next few weeks to keep it moist and help preserve it! Don’t worry if you don’t have time to make this cake until just before Christmas, it will still taste great!
This is also the recipe I used to make my brother and sister-in-law’s wedding cake quite a few years ago. A roaring success, if I do say so myself!
Mini Christmas Mince Pies
Mini Christmas Mince Pies are a favourite Christmas party treat. Super easy to make and really, really delicious. Great canapes. You can make bigger ones for gifts or make one huge one!
Vegan Meringue
Vegan Meringue makes a very striking Christmas centre piece. If traditional Christmas Cake is too heavy Gluten-free, Vegan Meringue is perfect. Light, sweet, crisp and sophisticated.
Honeycomb Tower
Okay, this is a bit out there but bear with me!!! Build a Home Made Honeycomb AKA Cinder Toffee tower and drizzle it with vegan chocolate. It would look amazing and taste even better. Can you imagine breaking of bits of honeycomb covered in delicious dark chocolate for dessert? I can!!!
What are Your Favourite Gluten-Free, Vegan Vegan Christmas Cake Recipe Ideas?
There are lots and lots and lots of great Gluten-Free, Vegan Christmas Cake ideas out there – this is just a tiny selection of ideas. There are lots more…
What are Your Favourite Gluten-Free, Vegan Christmas Cake Recipe Ideas? Drop a comment below or ping me on social media! 🙂
