Making Delia's Christmas Cake Gluten Free

Asked on 17 Oct 2019 by Tracey A Walton

Hi guys

Up until recently I’ve always used Delia’s original Christmas cake recipe. It must be forty years old!

We have recently had to go gluten-free and I’m struggling with the plain flour-to-xanthan gum ratio. I’ve compared it to a non-Delia recipe I’ve got for a gluten-free fruit cake, but they use self raising gf flour and in different quantities to Delia’s recipe. Their flour-to-fat ratio is different too, so I’m stuck.

I’d like to use the original Delia recipe (updated in DELIA’S HAPPY CHRISTMAS book) but with the appropriate adjustments for gluten-free. Can you help?

Regards
Tracey

Lindsey, Food Editor replied

Hello Tracey,

We tested every recipe in the Cakes Book using GF substitutes without adjusting the weights. The Classic and Creole Christmas cakes were both tested using GF flour but we didn’t use any xanthan gum.

We were all very happy with the results. However, it may be that adding the gum will give you a significantly better result but we haven’t tried it.

Best wishes

Lindsey