Christmas Cake alternative?

Boomdocker

My flatmate can't eat wheat and I am planning Christmas now. I am looking for an alternative to Chrimbo pud and cake. Was thinking that I have seen an ice cream dessert type thing which essentailly was vanilla ice cream mixed with fruit etc. Has anyone tried this and maybe has a recipe or suggestions that I might use? Thanks.

thriftlady_2

Can't help with the ice cream thing I'm afraid, but what about replacing the flour in the pud/cake with ground almonds?

Another idea for a festive pudding is syllabub -something of a Christmas tradition with my family (alcoholic cream if you don't know). We serve it with the pudding, but try layering it with mincemeat.

celyn90

I think I know what you mean with the icecream - I've had a similar thing where it was just booze soaked dried fruit and spices whipped through softened ice cream then refrozen in a small pudding basin - then tipped out onto the plate so it was the same shape as a Christmas pudding. I guess you could make the icecream from scratch in the freezer and just mix in some fruits, spices and maybe orange zest or something. It was really nice and light after a heavy meal and still tasted of Christmas.

I remember having a christmas pudding flavoured creme brulee for dessert in at a work dinner a few years ago and it was lovely. Noone in my immediate family other than me will eat Christmas pudding, so we always have profiteroles at home.

paddy's_mum

What about a Baked Alaska, layering on fresh fruits over the ice cream but under the meringue covering?

Stick a bit of holly in the top before serving - festive enough for anyone and a doddle to make - but looks really sumptious and make your friend realise that you took the effort to produce something lavish but suitable for their dietary needs.

denise_h_2

Boomdocker wrote: »

My flatmate can't eat wheat and I am planning Christmas now. I am looking for an alternative to Chrimbo pud and cake. Was thinking that I have seen an ice cream dessert type thing which essentailly was vanilla ice cream mixed with fruit etc. Has anyone tried this and maybe has a recipe or suggestions that I might use? Thanks.

I have come across this recipe in my Australian Womens Weekly Cakes and Slices book. I have no idea what it will taste like but it is an allergy-free fruit cake and doesn't contain wheat flour, eggs milk or butter. It contains cold mashed pumpkin (can you get pumpkin in UK?)

1 cup sultanas
3/4 cup currants
3/4 cup chopped raisins
2 cups water
1 1/2 cups cold cooked mashed pumpkin
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
1/4 cup oil
1 1/2 cups soy flour
1 1/2 cups rice flour
3 teaspoons baking powder (I know you can get this gluten free)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves

2 tablespoons sugarless apricot jam (to glaze cake)

Line a deep 20cm round cake pan with 2 sheets of paper
add sultanas, currants and raisins to water and bring to boil. Remove from heat and stir in pumpkin, lemon rind and oil. Cool to room temperatur. Add sifted flours, baking powder and spices. Spread into prepared pan and book into moderately slow oven (I would guess this is around 160deg C, or gas mark 5) for around 1 1/2 hours. Cover and cool in pan. Turn out when cold, and brush top with warmed seived jam. Store in airtight container in fridge for 1 week.

As this is an Australian recipe you may need to guess and/or substitute some of the ingredients.

For those of you without any allergies, I can highly recommend the range of Australian Womens Weekly books - some of the recipes are very moreish, and very different from the traditional british cake/biscuit recipes

PS I'm not Australian and have never been there either!

allgram

hi,boomdocker, its easy peasy, you need a decent vanilla ice cream (a cheap one has too much water in and just freezes rock hard) soft spoon or finest, then finely chop up half a small christmas pudding and mix in a large bowl then re-freeze, we have been doing it like this for years and now my married daughter carries this tradition on, its lovely. allgram.

denise_h_2

allgram wrote: »

hi,boomdocker, its easy peasy, you need a decent vanilla ice cream (a cheap one has too much water in and just freezes rock hard) soft spoon or finest, then finely chop up half a small christmas pudding and mix in a large bowl then re-freeze, we have been doing it like this for years and now my married daughter carries this tradition on, its lovely. allgram.

Doesn't a xmas pud have flour in it? The one thing boomdocker wants to avoid. You could however add some luxury sweet mincemeat to the icecream and re-freeze

Mrs_Flittersnoop

http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/iced-christmas-pudding-with-glace-fruits,1236,RC.html

This is Delia's version, haven't tried it myself but I've always had good results with her recipes.

HTH

Mrs F

Boomdocker

Wow, so many replies already. Love the look of that Delia one. Will look at them all properly but that is my fave so far. Denise - yes we can get pumpkin over here, thanks for that.

kazmeister

M & S usually have gluten/wheat free Xmas puds and so do Tesco.

Also if you go to the following link there is a list of GF supplliers (some will be wheat free as well so if you wanted a xmas cake one of them will prob have one.

www.coeliac.info/

just had a quick look - the first one I tried Lifestyle had both puds and cake and I've had some of their stuff and its not bad.

no1simmo

I had them last year and was really impressed