In which our hero makes a celebratory treat!

Howdy folks!

So in light of mine and Suse celebrating, I decided to bake a ring cake!  Further proof that living a gluten and dairy free lifestyle doesn't have to stop you having treats every now and then!

Wanna find out how to make one? Check it out after the jump!



So first off once again credit goes to the Coeliac society of Ireland for the genesis of this recipe, here's my modified version to make things a bit healthier, and a bit more suited to my tastes.

150g (8 oz) Raisins (check for gluten free)
175g (6 oz) Ready Dried Apricots halved
175g (6 oz) Chopped Blanched Almonds
2 Cartons (200g) Mixed Peel
2 Cartons (200g) Glace Cherries Chopped
2 Tablespoons Orange Juice

There's your fruit mix.  No trick here, mix it together, let it stand for at least 12 hours, 24 is better.

150g (5 oz) Rice flour
1 teaspoon Cinnamon (I didn't add this, pregnant ladies can't have Cinnamon and I wanted Suse to try some!)
150g (5 oz) Soya butter
110g (4 oz) Caster Sugar (I used this on this occaison to check out the flavour mix, doing this again I'd have no problem using Stevia)
3 Eggs - medium
1 teaspoon Vanilla Essence
1-2 tablespoons Orange Juice

And there's your cake mix!

There's no special trick here, just mix your eggs, butter and sugar/sweetener in a decent food processor, add the vanilla and cinammon next, then slowly add the flour and fruit mix on about a 50/50 ratio.

Now you want to have pre-heated your over to about 170c, cooler if it's an oven that tends to keep especially hot. 

Now if you have a ring dish, easy stuff, line it with grease proof-paper and pour in the mix.  I actually don't, so I used a regular cake tin and put an empty tin in the middle, it works just as well, though you probably want to tie in in place with some string or something :)

Now you may notice the top of my cake is fairly well done, that's deliberate cause I like it that way, if you don't, what to do is put a piece of tin foil under your cake tin, then about a half way though cooking, bring it over the top of the cake.  Cook it for 1-2 hours, the standard cake test works here, if you can stick a skewer in it and it comes out clear, your cake is done! take it out and leave it to stand for 20 minutes.

Now health-wise....it's a cake, I'm sure you can work it out, but you'll notice we skipped adding a topping to it, and if you use Stevia instead of sugar that'll drop the calorie intake a bit.  It's still FULL of sugar from the fruit though.  The best way to make it less unhealthy is to share it with friends!

Enjoy!