Natural Christmas Cake! Yum!

Still time to make this special treat. The secret is to buy all nutrient dense ingredients, and Voila! good for you!!

Unsulfured dried fruits

Natural Slivered Almonds

Fresh ground organic spelt flour

Parchment paper prep

Ready to bake.

Cooling before removing from pans.

Natural Fruit Cake (from Eat Away Illness page 386)

2 1/2 cups whole grain flour of choice. I used organic spelt. For gluten-free choose buckwheat.

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. unrefined salt

3 cups chopped unsulfured dried fruit. I used blueberries, cranberries, candied ginger, dried organic pineapple, raisins, and currants. For a moist cake, soak some or all of the fruit for several hours, and then drain. I soaked all but the ginger.

1 1/2 cups slivered natural almonds

1 cup unsalted butter. Use ghee for dairy-free

1/2 cup liquid honey

5 organic eggs

1 large organic lemon

optional: 2 tbsp. scotch whiskey

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

juice, wine, or scotch for soaking cheesecloth if necessary

1. Mix flour with baking powder and salt in a bowl.
2. In a large bowl, combine 3 cups of chopped dried, soaked, and drained fruit, and almonds.
3. Add the flour mixture to the fruit, mix well and set aside.
4. In a separate bowl, cream butter or ghee with honey, then beat in the eggs one at a time.
5. Pare the lemon and chop up the rind. Squeeze the juice from the lemon and combine with the chopped rind in a saucepan and simmer until the rind is soft.
6. Add the lemon juice and rind, whiskey if using, and vanilla to the butter mixture, then stir into the flour fruit mixture.
7. Spoon the cake batter into two 9 x 5 loaf pans that have been oiled and lined with parchment paper.
8. Bake at 275 F. for at least 2 hours, until the top is lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean.
9. Cool thoroughly on a rack.
10. Remove from pans, and leave the parchment paper on.
11. Wrap tightly in cheesecloth, or wax paper, and store in a sealed plastic bag or container.
12. You may choose to soak the cheesecloth and wrap to keep moist, or not, depending on level of moisture in cake. This batch, where I soaked most of the fruit, is very moist, and not in need of soaked cloth.

This cake is ready to eat, but will store well in the fridge. This year I used more ginger, and my re-hydrated pineapple, both of which made the texture and the taste better than past efforts.

For a treat, try having a slice of this nutrient dense cake instead of toast and jam!!! No sugar! no white flour! no preservatives! healthy fats!

Less than two weeks until we splurge with special foods! Make snacks and meals with nutrient dense foods to ensure your immune system stays strong!

Reminder: for last minute gifts, give the healing manual Eat Away Illness or Cook Your Way to Health cookbook, or What Your Doctor Doesn’t Tell You About Foods!! Call for more info.

In good health,

Paulette.