A rich fruit cake with a layer of marzipan backed right in as well as used on top for the traditional decoration. Originally served for Mother's Day, it's now more common for Easter. This gluten free version is so good, you really won't be able to tell there is no gluten! And it keeps extremely well - just wrap in foil and store in a cake tin. I've kept it for at least a week!
- 500 g mixed dried fruit
- 50 g stem ginger (finely chopped)
- 1 lemon (zest and juice)
- 1 orange (zest and juice)
- 100 g ground almonds
- 100 g buckwheat flour (white or wholemeal is just fine)
- 100 g rice flour
- 2 tsp gluten free baking powder
- 1 level tsp xantham gum (be mean when you measure, you don't need much)
- 1 tbsp mixed spice (pumpkin pie spice is delicious here too)
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 250 g soft butter
- 250 g light muscovado sugar
- 4 large eggs (beaten in a jug)
- 500 g marzipan (golden or white as preferred)
- 2 tbsp dark rum (optional)
- 1-2 tbsp marmalade or apricot jam (I used my Instant Pot Blood Orange Marmalade)
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Grease and line a deep 8 inch round cake tin - I use reusable silicone liners but baking parchment is just fine. Preheat the oven to 160˚C and position a shelf so that the cake sits no higher than the centre of the oven or it will catch and burn.
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Start by weighing the dried fruits, stem ginger and the zest and juice of the lemon and orange into a large bowl and mix well before setting aside.
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Whisk together the ground almonds, buckwheat flour, rice flour, baking powder, xantham gum and spices and set aside.
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Divide the marzipan in half and roll one half into a round ever so slightly smaller than 8 inches in diameter - using the base of the cake tin as your guide.
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Beat the butter and sugar until very light, pale and fluffy then pour in about a quarter of the beaten eggs, followed by a couple of spoonfuls of the flour. Continue alternating the egg and dried ingredients until all combined.
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Scrape the dried fruit and all the juices into the cake batter and mix well before scraping half into the prepared cake tin, topping with the disc of marzipan then finishing with the remaining cake batter.
Level it off and bake for 2 hours - you may wish to place a piece of foil over the top in the last 30 minutes of baking time if it is colouring too quickly. Test with a skewer to see if it done at 2 hours (bearing in mind the marzipan will be a little gooey) and be prepared to let it cook for another 10-15 minutes if not yet done.
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If liked, pour the rum on top of the hot cake as soon as it comes out of the oven and then cool fully in the tin on a rack before unmoulding from the tin.
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To decorate, take 2/3 of the remaining marzipan and roll out to the diameter of the top of your cake. Brush the top of the cake with a light layer of marmalade or jam and press the disc of marzipan on top. Crimp the edges up as per the photos. With the last piece of marzipan, divide into 11 and roll into small balls (this is symbolic of the 11 apostles for the religious amongst us) and arrange around the periphery of the top of the cake, using a tiny dot of water to help them adhere to it.
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To finish, preheat the grill (broiler) and position a rack in the oven so that the cake is not closer than 2 inches to it. Now here's where you have to watch it like a hawk - place the cake on a baking tray and grill for approximately 1-2 minutes until you get a little scorching on the marzipan topping of the cake. Do not take your eyes off it (yes, I stand and peer through the oven door!) and when lightly toasted, remove and cool before serving.
As with all free from baking *always* read the labels on your ingredients as gluten can crop up in the most unlikely places! Double check your baking powder as it can often be bulked up with wheat flour and whilst marzipan is just ground almonds, sugar and sometimes egg, double check as it may have been made in a factory which handles gluten.