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Healthy Christmas Fruit Cake

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A healthy Christmas fruit cake recipe that’s gluten free, dairy free and grain free. Made with almond flour, coconut flour, dried fruit, mixed spices and a little orange zest for a lovely authentic festive feel. 

A healthy Christmas fruit cake recipe that's gluten free, dairy free and grain free using almond flour and coconut flour. Easy to make!

If you have suddenly decided that you’d like to make a Christmas cake this year but you want to get it all in the oven with a minimum of fuss, then this Healthy Christmas Fruit Cake recipe is made for you. There’s a little bit of soaking of the fruit involved, but no more than 15 minutes; then you just get to stir everything up, pop it in to the oven and glaze or ice it (if you want to). Too easy!

This Christmas cake is free from gluten and any added sweeteners (I find the coconut flour and dried fruit gives you more than enough sweetness). It can be kept dairy free as well, so it’s able to cater for many allergies/intolerances at a big Christmas gathering, if it needs to. And hey, even if if it doesn’t, it’s still damn delicious.

You can use any dried fruit that you like in this recipe. Some of my favourite dried fruits to use in a Healthy Christmas Fruit Cake are:

  • figs;
  • dates;
  • apricots;
  • sultanas;
  • currants;
  • cranberries.

For larger dried fruit like figs, dates and apricots, chop them into smaller pieces first if you purchase them whole. Or just take the easy option and purchase a dried fruit mix, there are always pretty yummy ones on offer at the shops come Christmas time.

If you make this cake, don’t forget to take a snap and tag me on Instagram, you can find me over at @moniquecormacknutrition!

A #healthy Christmas fruit cake recipe that's gluten free, dairy free and grain free using almond flour and coconut flour. Easy to make! #christmascake #fruitcake #paleo

UPDATE NOVEMBER 2019: A number of people have left me a comment asking if I have made this cake well in advance and preserved it by soaking the cake with alcohol. Unfortunately I haven’t done this yet! Despite my best intentions I never seem to get my Christmas cake done very far in advance. Now at least I have a good excuse, I’m a new mum of twins this year! 🙂

A healthy Christmas fruit cake recipe that's gluten free, dairy free and grain free using almond flour and coconut flour. Easy to make! Recipe via wordpress-6440-15949-223058.cloudwaysapps.com

Healthy Christmas Fruit Cake

A healthy Christmas fruit cake recipe that's gluten free, dairy free and grain free using almond flour and coconut flour. Easy to make!
4.7 from 10 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Desserts and Sweets
Cuisine: dairy free, freezer friendly, gluten free, grain free
Prep Time: 40 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
Servings: 14 slices
Calories: 281kcal

Ingredients

  • 500 grams mixed dried fruits
  • 75 grams walnuts (3/4 cup)
  • 1 orange
  • 125 grams almond flour/meal (1 1/4 cups)
  • 67 grams coconut flour (1/2 cup)
  • 1/2 tsp bicarb soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3 tsp mixed spice *
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 5 eggs
  • 50 grams butter or coconut oil, melted (1/4 cup)
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract
  • 60 mL amaretto or other liqueur of choice (optional)

GLAZE (OPTIONAL)

  • 2 tbsp honey or other liquid sweetener
  • 2 tbsp amaretto or other liqueur of choice

Instructions

  • Start by soaking the fruit. Fill your kettle and pop it on to boil while you organise all the dried fruit into a large bowl. If you're using larger fruit like dates and apricots, roughly chop them up first (my quick tip: snip them with kitchen scissors - it will save you so much time!). Pour the hot water over the fruit and allow to sit for 10 to 15 minutes to soften and then drain and allow to cool to room temperature (get on with your cake prep while this is happening).
  • Preheat your oven to 150 C. Line a 20 cm cake tin (preferably spingform) with baking paper along the base and sides.
  • Combine the almond flour, coconut flour, bicarb, salt, mixed spice and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. Zest the orange and roughly chop the walnuts, and add the zest and walnuts to the bowl too. Keep the orange.
  • In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, melted butter (or coconut oil), vanilla and amaretto. Squeeze in the juice of the orange (doesn't matter if some pulp goes in).
  • Create a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and gradually stir in the wet mixture, stirring as you go (coconut flour is very absorbent so it's better to add it gradually). You should end up with a very thick batter, almost like a wet crumbly dough.
  • Make sure your soaked fruit is well drained, and then add this to the cake batter. Fold it in with a spoon until combined evenly.
  • Scoop the cake batter in to your lined baking tin and press down with your fingers or the back of a spoon until there are no gaps and the top is smooth.
  • Bake the cake for between 60 - 70 minutes, or until the top is well browned and the centre feels firm to touch.
  • If you're going to glaze the cake, do so immediately while the cake is hot, brushing on your glaze of choice with a pastry brush. You can also poke a few holes in the cake and then drizzle it over, if you want to use a lot and really soak the cake. To use the glaze I have suggested above, simply heat up the honey so it's really runny, mix with the amaretto and then brush over the top of the cake.
  • Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 30 minutes and then place on a wire rack to cool to room temperature. (Store in the fridge for about 1 week or freeze for a longer life.)

Notes

CUSTARD: To make an intolerance-friendly “custard” as pictured, I did the following:
  • combine 1 cup of rice milk with 2 tsp of vanilla extract, 1-2 tbsp maple syrup (or other sweetener), and a pinch of nutmeg in a small saucepan.
  • in a small mug combine 1 tbsp of cornflour + a tiny, tiny pinch of turmeric (for colour) with a little water just so the flour is dissolved.
  • bring the milk mixture almost to boil and then pour in the cornflour paste, whisking continuously with a fork and cooking over a low heat until the mixture thickens to your liking. You can adjust the amount of sweetener to suit your taste. It is possible to make this with another milk too; I just like rice milk as it’s quite naturally sweet so you don’t need to add much. Coconut milk also works well as it's quite sweet, too.
*If you can't find mixed spice I recommend substituting the 3 tsp of mixed spice as follows: 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp allspice, 1/2 tsp nutmeg and 1/2 tsp ginger.

Nutrition

Calories: 281kcal | Carbohydrates: 34g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 66mg | Sodium: 185mg | Potassium: 308mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 24g | Vitamin A: 195IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 100mg | Iron: 2mg

Nourish Everyday - Healthy Grain Free Christmas Fruit Cake

A healthy Christmas cake recipe that's gluten free, dairy free and grain free using nuts and coconut flour. Easy to make!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Great Christmas cake. I soak the fruit in brandy up to 3 days instead of hot water; makes it richer and more flavourful (4 TB to 1/4c).

    I haven’t tried the glaze yet; usually decorate the top with slivered almonds prior to baking.

    Thanks for the great recipe!

    Reply

    • Thanks so much for this lovely feedback Carol! Soaking the fruit in brandy would be so yum, one year I’ll actually be organised enough to do this myself! 🙂

      Reply

  2. 5 stars
    Baked this today – so easy and delicious. Very impressed and hard to believe it is gluten free. Made my Christmas 🙂

    Reply

  3. 5 stars
    Just made this for my daughter who’s on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet … it’s a winner ! I varied it slightly according to ingredients I had and to comply with the SCD.
    I used my homemade pumpkin spice instead of mixed spice, ground dried mandarin peel instead of orange zest… and commercial sugar free orange juice as I didn’t have an orange. More orange juice as substitute for Amaretto…. and used whiskey and honey for the glaze.
    Oh… and I also added a tsp of pure almond extract…. and forgot to add the walnuts 🙁 Delicious just the same 🙂
    Thank you…. she’s going to love it….if my husband hasn’t eaten it all first 🙂

    Reply

    • Hi Ros, I’m so glad to hear you were able to make this work as an SCD compliant recipe! I love pumpkin spice so I think that would have been great to use regardless of the requirements 🙂 Hope you had a great Christmas!

      Reply

  5. Hi, I decided to try this cake this year but I plan to cook it ahead because of lack of time and freeze it. When I come to serve it do I simply defrost it naturally or do I reheat it in the oven considering that it would already have been baked.? Can I freeze it unbaked and bake it once defrosted please? Thanks for your help

    Reply

    • Hi Yanika, I would not freeze the cake unbaked. I would bake it and then freeze it. You can simply thaw it rather than bake it again when it comes time to serve it, though warming it in a gentle low oven heat might produce a nicer result rather than just simply naturally defrosting.

      Reply

  6. 5 stars
    Um wow?! This is extremely impressive!!! For years, I have been making a ‘traditional’ Christmas cake for the family, but wanted to try this one this year and holy moly I’m glad I did! Super super yummy- very much like the ‘real thing’ ! Thanks xx

    Reply

  7. Hi Monique,
    I wondered whether I could make this in advance (around now) and feed it with alcohol like you would do with a normal christmas cake?
    Thanks 🙂

    Reply

    • Hi Monique
      I couldn’t find your reply to Sue, but like Sue and Casey, I wondered if it is OK to make in advance?
      Thanks
      Tessa

      Reply

      • Hi Tessa, I’m sorry but I haven’t had the chance to make this cake very far in advance yet. I’m actually planning on making it this week (have all the ingredients) so long as the babies nap long enough for me to do so! 🙂 I think this cake will keep pretty well for at least a few weeks so long as it’s stored in the fridge wrapped very well to keep in the moisture, or alternatively I would just freeze it.

        Reply

  8. Hello, I’m having a small Christmas and want to make Christmas cake but won’t get through anywhere near a whole cakes worth, so was wondering if you think this recipe would work as muffins and as a half batch? Thank you, Megan

    Reply

    • Hi Megan, I’m so so sorry about the delay in replying to your message. I was in hospital for an extended period due to a health issue and I’m only just catching up now. I hope that you were able to experiment with this recipe – muffins or a half batch would both work, I think, so long as you change the baking time 🙂

      Reply

  9. Hi,
    Thank you so much, my first fruit cake ever. Tastes so awesome.
    Thanks again for making the recipe so easy to follow.
    Big Cheers from Australia

    Reply

    • Hi Roger, thank you so much for this lovely message! I’m sorry for the delay in replying to you, I’ve been in hospital for quite an extended period of time due to a health issue. 🙂

      Reply

  10. 3 stars
    Hi monique.. I am writing as I seem to be in the minority as far as a baking success.
    This is not to criticise, but I am wondering where I went wrong.
    After making 5 x 12cm flourless christmas cakes from an old Taste recipe which was ok,,I had about 400gms of very boozy hand cut dried fruit left over. Looked for another recipe and came across yours,
    I purchased extra fresh dates and soft pitted prunes..chopped them up and added to the other fruit.
    I ended up with approx 625gms of fruit,,so basically a quarter more than the recommended 500gms. Upped the flours by one quarter and added one egg.
    So no need to boil water and the fruit mixture was very moist.
    All went well until the final mix of wet and dry had a very sandy feel..and after one hour that is how the top of the cakes still felt to the touch. I looked at your pic and my result and was extremely disappointed.
    By turning the cakes over, and glazing the bottoms with a mix of strained marmalade and date syrup, they look ok,
    but I do wonder about the gritty nature of the original surface of the cake. I bake a lot of flourless cakes for friends and school fundraising using only almond meal. Coconut flour will never again be seen in my kitchen as I cant help but think it maybe the culprit. Apologies for being so long winded

    Reply

    • Hi Grant, thank you for your honest feedback about the cake. I apologise for the delayed reply, I have been in hospital for an extended period of time and I’m only just catching up on my blog now. From the way you describe the mixture, it sounds like the “gritty” texture might have been from the coconut flour; it does have more of a grainy feel than almond meal and I’m wondering if you maybe just don’t like it? I don’t mean that in a rude way at all, just maybe it’s honestly not for you! I feel the same way about certain ingredients! However another factor is that in my experience the consistency and quality of coconut flour varies incredibly from brand to brand, so I would perhaps encourage you (if you ever want to try coconut flour again) to purchase a different brand that produces a more finely milled, softer flour. The reason I added it to this recipe was for sweetness and also to make the result slightly more “cakey” as almond meal is so dense. Perhaps upping the quantities also affected the result and it might have been better to only increase almond meal. Coconut flour is SO absorbent, just the tiniest amount makes a huge difference. Best wishes, Monique

      Reply

  11. Hi Monique, would it be possible to use GF flour to substitute the coconut flour (which I’m not a fan of)? Plain or self-raising? I realise that coconut flour requires additional liquid so I am wondering if the same amount of orange juice would be required if using the GF flour. Also, is it possible to use another nut? Thanks so much! Look forward to trying your recipe!

    Reply

    • Hi Christine, thank you for your message. I’m so sorry that I have taken so long to reply, due to a personal health issue I was hospitalised over the Christmas period for a month and I am only just catching up now. I assume that you have either already tried out this recipe or you made something else for Christmas. Either way I hope whatever cake you had was delicious 🙂 To answer your questions, you could just use plain GF flour as the substitute, and correct I would reduce the amount of orange juice. I’m not sure about using another nut, do you mean instead of the almond meal? I have never tried the cake with another nut meal, I tend to use almond meal for nut-based cakes as it’s so readily available!

      Reply

  12. 5 stars
    Any info please on the specific nutritional info on this cake please, Specifically fat, saturates and sugar?

    Reply

    • Hi Kenyon, thank you for your message. I’m so sorry that I have taken so long to reply, due to a personal health issue I was hospitalised over the Christmas period for a month and I am only just catching up now. I do not have a nutritional calculator on my website at present, it’s something I’m researching but I’m not sure how I feel about putting so many numbers on my foods as it’s not really how I eat intuitively myself. If you would like to calculate it, it’s possible to use a website like happyforks.com which I understand offers a recipe nutritional calculator. 🙂

      Reply

  16. Hi Monique cakes in the oven can’t wait smells so good. My brain is just ticking over what to do now with leftover juice from fruit soak – any special ideas perhaps I’ll use it for pork marinade🤞

    Reply

    • Oh so lovely to hear this Susan! Thank you for taking the time to let me know 🙂 I think you could definitely use it for a pork marinade, or alternatively you could boil it down into a syrup and make an extra sticky glaze for the cake maybe! I hope the cake turns out super well for you.

      Reply

  17. I want to use nut pulp that is left over from making nut milk. Do you think it will make a difference from dried nut flour. More moisture obviously but I’m thinking that it won’t make too much difference?

    Reply

    • Hi Jenny! Oh that would be awesome if you can use up nut pulp in this. I think you should be able to make it work… I would suggest either drying the nut pulp out in the oven first (maybe bake it on a low heat), or maybe adding an extra spoonful or two of coconut flour / or reducing the liquid ingredients to balance the moisture in the cake. Let me know how it goes 🙂

      Reply

  18. I want to get this made for our family get together on Christmas Day. It calls for 3 tsp mixed spice. I’ve never seen anything called “mixed spice”. Can you tell me what spices to use and quantities?

    Reply

    • Hi Gwen, of course, happy to help! Mixed spice is sometimes called “pudding spice” and there are different variations of it depending on what brand you buy. A simple substitution would be to use: 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp allspice, 1/2 tsp nutmeg and 1/2 tsp ground ginger. (I know there is already cinnamon in the recipe but still add more). Hope this helps, let me know how you go 🙂

      Reply

  19. 4 stars
    Hi my name is Robyn. I want to make a Christmas cake using pineapple pieces and walnuts no sugar. Your recipe looks great to use. I have Monica’s Mix Paleo flour can I use these ingredient?

    Reply

    • Hi Robyn! Sounds like you have a super delicious Christmas cake planned this year 🙂 Thank you for the kind words – I really like this Christmas Cake recipe!

      I have never used Monica’s Mix Paleo flour myself. Would you substitute it for all of the flour in this recipe? i.e. are you planning on replacing the almond meal and the coconut flour? I would suggest you could definitely substitute it for the coconut flour, but I’d try to use at least some almond meal in there as well because this has a different texture and helps to keep the cake moist with a nice crumb. I had a look at the ingredients in Monica’s paleo mix and think it might turn out too dry if you just use that. Hope this helps! Do let me know how you go!

      Reply

  20. Has anyone wrapped and stored the cake for 2-10 weeks as you would a traditional Christmas fruit cake? Or is the freezer the only option?

    Reply

    • Hi Iona! Thank you for your comment. I have been very tempted to try this cake soaked in liquor and stored as you would a traditional fruit cake – comparing the ingredients to a traditional fruit cake, there’s nothing to suggest that it wouldn’t work. However I must be honest, I haven’t done it yet! Provided an appropriate amount of alcohol is fed to the cake as you would do normally it should keep well. If you try it please let me know how you go 🙂

      Reply

      • Hi Monique. Have you had any news from others on storing the cake for say 8 weeks, or have you tried it yourself yet? If I wrap it in wax-proof paper and foil and put in a cake tin/plastic tub in the fridge, would that work, do you think? And I would feed it regularly, of course, with ..rum probably.

        Reply

        • Hi Sue, thank you for your message. I’m sorry but I haven’t received an update from anyone who has stored and fed the cake for an extended period yet. I had intended to do this last Christmas myself, but ended up on hospital bedrest pregnant with my twins! I think if you wrap it securely and store it in the fridge, and feed it with alcohol, you should be ok to make it an advance and store it. The biggest risk would be food spoilage but with alcohol, wrapping and being stored in the fridge this risk is kept to a minimum.

          Reply

    • Thank you so much, Sylvie! I just spent ages checking out your website – it’s fabulous, I’m flattered you stopped by to comment! Just subscribed for your newsletter! 🙂

      Reply

    • Thank you Libby! Amaretto is the best, right!? I only recently discovered it and can’t believe I’ve been missing out on something so delicious for so long 🙂

      Reply

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