#FreeFromChristmas: Glutenfree Vegan Black Forest Christmas Cake (Eggfree, Glutenfree)

My offering for #FreeFromChristmas is this Glutenfree Vegan Black Forest Christmas Cake.  Chocolate sponge, soaked in a dark, cherry syrup, filled with creamy vanilla buttercream and covered with a rich chocolate fudge frosting.  Makes one very large showstopper or 12 mini cakes that make perfect Festive Gifts!

Not a fan of traditional Christmas Fruit Cake? In need of a completely freefrom version for a family get together or work do? Then you’ve come to the right place! My Glutenfree Vegan Black Forest Christmas Cake is a great alternative as its completely freefrom the top14 allergens! AND it’s a perfect alternative for those of us who spend the festive season dodging the citrus peel that is snuck in every baked good known to man at this time of year.  I have made two different versions of this cake.  The cute mini ones are great for teachers presents but you can also go party showstopper too.   Now I have to admit this version of the cake is a monster…. it has five layers of chocolate sponge but don’t be put off by the extensive list of ingredients its a really easy cake to make!

As you can the decoration on both is in hubby’s words very basic – I prefer Understated! (Sadly the chocolate wafers are not remotely dairyfree or suitable for vegans or allergy sufferers – so you can go for candy canes instead!)   You can, obviously go a bit more festive & decorate however you want – this would look lovely with a dairyfree white chocolate drizzle over the top, chocolate christmas trees or those traditional plastic Christmas figurines that have been atop every Christmas Cake since Great Grandma was a girl! Its completely up to you!  But I think they look particularly lovely with the grated chocolate & sparkly gold dust!  (Its not the best icing job I’ve ever done to be honest but it tasted good!)

I have made some mini ones too with crushed candy canes around the bottom and sparkly snow on top but even with fiddling around with the photos in every editing software I have I can’t make them look half decent.  I made the mistake of letting my phone run out of battery so I had to use my camera which is not doing so good these days!  They did look very cute though!  Speaking of festive gifts… as it is coming towards the end of term don’t forget to check out my other recipes that are perfect for Festive Edible Gifts & Easy recipes for all those last minute cake stalls we get roped into at this time of year!

Recipe for Glutenfree Vegan Black Forest Christmas Cake

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5 from 4 votes

Glutenfree Vegan Black Forest Christmas Cake

Not a fan of traditional Christmas Fruit Cake? In need of a completely freefrom version for a family get together or work do? Then you've come to the right place! My Glutenfree Vegan Black Forest Christmas Cake is a great alternative as its completely freefrom the top14 allergens! AND it's a perfect alternative for those of us who spend the festive season dodging the citrus peel that is snuck in every baked good known to man at this time of year.

Makes:

1 Large 5 layer sponge

12 Mini Sponges

Course Afternoon Tea, Christmas, Dessert

Author Midge

Ingredients

For the Sponge

• 100 g Dairyfree Margarine
• 100 g Vegetable Oil
• 2 tbsp Golden Syrup
• 100 g Cocoa Powder
• 300 g Granulated sugar
• 300 ml Water
• 300 ml Dairyfree Milk
• 600 g Self Raising Flour
• 4 tbsp Ground Chia Seeds

For the White Buttercream

• 100 g Baking Block Margarine
• 100 g Dairyfree Margarine
• 1 tsp Golden Syrup
• 500 g Icing Sugar

Chocolate Buttercream

• 2 tbsp Cocoa Powder
• 100 g Baking Block Margarine
• 100 g Melted Dark Chocolate
• 500 g Icing sugar

Decorations

• Fresh Cherries or tinned in syrup
• Grated Dark Chocolate
• Melted Dark Chocolate

Cherry Syrup

• 100 g Frozen Dark Cherries
• 25 g Granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp Water

Instructions

To make the Cherry Syrup

• Simmer together the cherries, sugar and water for about 15minutes until the liquid thickens.

For the Cake

• Grease & line 3 tall 20cm cake tins and preheat the oven to 180C
• In a large mixing bowl beat together Margarine, Vegetable Oil, Golden Syrup and Sugar.
• In a separate bowl sift together the cocoa powder and flour.  Then stir in the chia seeds until completely combined.  Next gently fold these dry ingredients into the margarine mixture alongside the water & milk.
• Divide into the 3 cake tins and add the cherries from the syrup in a layer over 2 of the uncooked cakes.

  Bake for 40-45mins or until a skewer comes out clean.  (Keep an eye on them from 35minutes) 
• Spoon over the cherry syrup and Leave to cool.
• Make the two buttercreams - Its a really easy job as long as you remember to use the baking block and margarine at room temperature.  Also beware of icing sugar clouds!  All you have to do is put the ingredients in a bowl and beat together until soft.  You may need to add a small amount of dairyfree milk just to loosen the frosting slightly.  
• Sandwich the three cakes together by piping vanilla buttercream in between the sponges.  Chill in the fridge for an hour just to set the buttercream slightly, so that when you try and ice the outside the cake stays still!
• Pipe the chocolate buttercream in rings around the outside of the cake and around the top.  Smooth over and decorate as you want! 

Notes

* Granulated works fine in this recipe but for a more fudgy texture to your sponge replace some or all of it with soft brown sugar.

To Make Mini Cakes

You will need 2 trays with 12 cupcake or mini cake holes.

Divide the mixture between the 24 moulds and bake for about 14 minutes.  TIp out and leave to cool and decorate as the large cake. 

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