Hi Chris! I could give you my recipe for a pound cake variation that I make every Christmas, but its certainly not gluten free. Have you looked online for gluten free cake recipes? My son had a girlfriend that had Celiacs, and I did do some research on it. Alas, it was a short lived romance... LOL! and I never thought of it again.

I have a scrumptious carrot cake recipe. It was given to me by a store owner. We use to have parties at Christmas and New Years with an excess of at least 250 people. It is as easy as putting everything in one bowl and mixing. (not counting the frosting) It is far from health minded. The recipe makes a 3 qt sheet cake. Thanks for the reminder...I think it is time to make another one and send it to work with a friend of mine.

Here is a nice one:

Cake Mix + Diet Soda
PER SERVING (1 piece, 1/12th of cake): 171 calories, 3.25g fat, 301mg sodium, 34g carbs, <0.5g fiber, 19g sugars, 1.5g protein -- POINTS® value 4*

Ingredients:
One 18.25-oz. box moist-style cake mix
One 12-oz. can diet soda

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk thoroughly and transfer to a baking pan sprayed with nonstick spray; bake in the oven until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. (Refer to cake-mix box for pan size and approximate bake time.)

MAKES 12 SERVINGS

Best Flavor Combo: Yellow cake mix + diet cream soda. Runners-up include lemon cake mix + diet lemon-lime soda and devil's food cake mix + diet cherry cola.

The Texture: Moist and light.

The Taste: Pretty darn impressive! However, if you're sensitive to the sweetener in diet soda, you may notice a slight aftertaste... especially if you use cola of any kind.

Candy Cane Cake
Your little elves' eyes will light up when they see and taste
this pretty peppermint bundt cake.

Cake Ingredients:
1 pkg Betty Crocker SuperMoist white cake mix
1 1/4 cups water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon red food color
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
Crushed candy canes or crushed hard peppermint candies White Icing Ingredients:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk or water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

White Icing Ingredients:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk or water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Cake Directions:
Heat oven to 350F. Generously grease and flour 12-cup bundt cake pan. Beat cake mix, water, oil and egg whites in large bowl with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds; beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour about 2 cups batter into pan. Pour about 3/4 cup batter into small bowl; stir in food color and peppermint extract. Carefully pour pink batter over white batter in pan. Carefully pour remaining white batter over pink batter. Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Turn pan upside down onto wire rack or heatproof serving plate; remove pan. Cool cake completely, about 1 hour. Spread with White Icing. Sprinkle top with crushed candy.

White Icing Directions:
1. Mix all ingredients. Stir in additional milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, until smooth and spreadable. Add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla if desired.

CHOCOLATE WINE CAKE
Serves 10 to 12

FOR THE CAKE:

Nonstick vegetable cooking spray

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate

1 cup red wine, such as cabernet sauvignon

1/3 cup whole milk

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

2/3 cup (10 2/3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature

3 large eggs, slightly beaten

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 box (.3 ounce) sugar-free black cherry gelatin

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

FOR THE WINE GLAZE:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup red wine, such as cabernet sauvignon

1 cup confectioners' sugar, plus more for serving

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Prepare the cake: Preheat the oven to 350°. Spray a 10-cup Fleur De Lis Bundt Pan with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.


2. Melt chocolate in a small bowl placed over a small saucepan of simmering water. Let cool 5 minutes. In a small bowl, combine wine and milk; set aside.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and the granulated sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs; beat for 2 minutes. Add the cooled chocolate mixture and beat until incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.

4. In a large bowl, whisk flour, gelatin, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to combine. Add to mixer bowl, along with the wine mixture, and beat on low speed until combined, about 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Spoon batter into prepared pan.

5. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool 15 minutes. Using a plastic knife, carefully loosen cake from the pan; invert onto a wire cooling rack. Let cool completely.

6. Prepare the glaze: Combine the butter, wine, and confectioners’ sugar in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, over medium-high heat. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla. Set aside until ready to serve.

7. Dust cake lightly with confectioners’ sugar. Slice cake and drizzle with glaze.

Hey Chris, it's a bit too late to be making Christmas cake for this year, like pudding, it should be given time to mature.

I have several in Aussie cook books but am going to bed as I am wiped out. Will try and remember tomorrow or you can remind me on Friday and we can photocopy while you're here.
hugs n love, me

I guess I've never had the opportunity to have a "Traditional" Christmas cake. Whats it like? My husband and I eat gluten free also he has celiac, crohns and U.C. to top it off. So I would be interested in a Chirstmas cake as well even if it has to mature and we have it during the 12 days of Christmas which starts the day after Christmas.

Chris - being originally from England I have 1 or 2 recipe's for Christmas cake. I agree with Meganne that a Christmas cake should be baked sometime before Christmas as it need time for all the yummy stuff to mature. If you are interested send me a PM and then I will e mail you. I hate to admit that this is the first year I have not made a cake - my kids are going to 'kill' me!!!!

I have a feeling you are talking about a brandied
fruit cake?

Thank you for the recipe i think my grandkids would love this.

Chris, I don't have the recipe for it... at least I don't think I do... but my mother made Japanese Fruitcakes every year at Christmas. At least as long as my grandparents were alive. I think she lost her will to do all that after they died in the same year. About all I can tell you about it is that it involved 2 coconuts, the milk from those coconuts, and dates. It was a 5 layer cake with the even numbered layers being made with the ground up dates. No food processors back then, so the coconuts and the dates were ground up using an old food mill that was attached to my grandmother's kitchen table. Ah, those were the good 'ol days. I see Shirlene has given you several really wonderful looking cake recipes. I'm probably going to copy and paste them myself. LOL! Good luck!

Christmas Fruit Cake Gluten Free

1 large orange
4 eggs
¾ cup agave nectar
½ teaspoon almond extract
2 cups blanched almond flour
½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup dried cranberries
½ cup dried apricots, chopped
½ cup pistachios, chopped
½ cup walnuts, chopped
Wash the orange and boil it whole (peel and all) for 1 ½ hours, or until soft
Place whole orange (peel and all) in a food processor and blend until smooth
Process in eggs, agave, almond extract, almond flour, salt and baking soda until well blended
Transfer mixture to a bowl and stir in cranberries, apricots, pistachios and walnuts
Pour mixture into a greased, almond flour dusted 9-inch springform pan
If cake begins to brown on top before center is done, cover with tin foil
Bake at 350° for 45-55 minutes, or until a knife stuck in the center comes out clean
Cool in the pan for 2 hours
If you like you can soak cheese cloth in your favorite liquor and wrap around the cake.

GRANDMAS POUND CAKE
6 EGGS
2 STICKS UNSALTED BUTTER
PINT OF WHIPPING CREAM
3 CUPS OF SUGAR
1 1/2 CUPS SELF RISING FLOUR
1 1/2 CUPS FLOUR
1 TEASPOON OF VANILLA
I ALWAYS GREASE AND FLOUR A BUNDT CAKE PAN PUT IT IN A 350 DEGREE OVEN FOR ABOUT 45 MINUTES
DO NOT OPEN THAT OVEN DOOR BEFORE. THE CAKE WILL RISE AND MAKES THE BEST CRUST ON TOP FROM THE CREAM THAT'S WHAT MINE ALWAYS EAT FIRST. YOU CAN ADD NUTS TO IT IF YOU LIKE.

MY MOTHER IN LAW GAVE ME THE RECIPE. AND IT'S OUT HOLIDAY FAVORITE ALITTLE EXPENSIVE TO MAKE BUT DELICIOUS.

I HAVVE HAD THE CAKE RISE AND I OPENED THE OVEN BEFORE THE CENTER WAS COOKED THROUGH AND IT FALLS. STILL YUMMY JUST NOT AS PRETTY.

Chris I will get a recipe up later today/tomorrow as its now bedtime and after midnight. I have a recipe I make each year that my mother used to make.

Diane Tapper's Christmas Cake
1 2/3 c dried currants
1 2/3 c sultanas
1 sherry glass of sherry (I use Harvey Bristol Creme sherry)
Mix these together and let the raisins/currants soak up the sherry overnight.
Cream together:
9 Tablespoons of butter
1/2 c white sugar
3 eggs
Sift together:
1 1/4 c flour
1/4 c ground almonds
1//4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves

Add the flour mixture to the sugar/butter mixture, then add the dried fruit mixture.
Bake at 275 degrees for 2 hrs 15 minutes in a 8" by 8" pan lined inside and out with aluminum foil.

Normally after I bake the cake, I pour a tablespoon of rum on the finished cake every week for 6-8 weeks.

Well thankyou ladies - but it looks like the American ladies aren't sure of what I'm after. A traditional Christmas cake is full of dried fruits. It is much like the English ones.

I'll add a recipe that I found on BESTRECIPES.com

375g sultanas
250g raisins, chopped
250g currants
125g mixed peel
125g glace cherries, halved
60g glace pineapple, chopped
250g butter
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup brandy
1/2 cup water
2 teaspoons grated orange rind
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 tablespoon treacle
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 and 3/4 cup self-raising flour
1 and a 1/2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

METHOD

Line a deep 23cm or 20cm square cake tin with 3 thicknesses of greaseproof paper, bringing paper 5cm above the edge of the tin.
Combine fruit, butter, sugar, brandy and water in a pan, stir over heat until butter is melted and sugar dissolved.
Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer covered for 10 minutes.
Remove from heat, cool to room temperature.
Stir in orange and lemon rind, treacle and eggs.
Stir in sifted dry ingredients, spread mixture evenly into tin.
Bake at 140C for 2-2 and a 1/2 hours. Cover hot cake with foil, cool in tin.
Dress top of cake with halved almond pieces 'around the clock' and place a Christmas decoration in the centre.

Love Chris

And as I had requested I was hoping for someone's grandmother's recipe! Love Chris

Hi Chris, my recipe is a little like the one you have put up.
Very Rich Fruit Cake
375g currants
225g sultanas
150g rasins
(I end up having about 800g driedfruit as I over weigh at this point)
100g glace cherries
50-100g almonds - I prefer to leave mine whole
100g mixed peel - this is often omitted by me as some of the family dont like it, hence the extra dried mixed fruit)
225g/9oz plain flour
I tsp ground mixed spice
grated rind of one lemon
8oz butter
8oz soft brown sugar
I tabspoon black treacle - optional
4-5 large eggs
I can Guinness/stout or sherry

Method
Cream butter and sugar together until it is light and fluffy, slowly add the beaten egg bit by bit, if it looks as if it might curdle add a small amount of flour. Fold the rest of the flour in when all the eggs have been mixed in. I mix the lemon zest and mixed spice with the flour.
All the fruit and other ingredients but not the cherries or sherry/Guinness go in at this point. I add the fruit in about 4 lots as it gets very stiff to mix. As I am using a food mixer (- not a food processor) I dont put the cherries in as they get broken up. At this point the mixture is very stiff. As I dont measure out the liquid too carefully over the next 2-8 hours I pour some of the booze on to the cake mixture and mix it in. The cake mix becomes much wetter and I leave it for about 24 hours before it is cooked so it absorbs the added liquid.
The tin 8" round or a similar sized square one is double lined. Everything is given a last stir and the cherries are added at this point and the mixture is put into the baking tin. I then wrap and tie a piece of thick paper - often newspaper round the sides of the tin and have a piece of greasproof paper over the top of the cake.
Cook in a very cool oven 275 degrees/140c or gas mark 1. I check after 3 hours to see how it is cooking. It should be firm to the touch. A small skewer inserted into the middle of the cake will show if its cooked. I find the cake takes nearer 4 hours to cook. From my limited knowledge on gluten free flour it should work. In Yorkshire christmas cake is eaten with a piece of cheese and it is a great combination. Should you want to pour a little brandy on the cooled cooked cake every two weeks or so in the lead up to christmas do so. Keeping the cake in a sealed tin/box. Chris I hope some of this makes sense, having it all written in a little box makes it very difficult to check back. I made my cake last weekend and there was a small cake as well as the big one. It was too much temptation for my husband and it got eaten, it was delicious and lovely and moist but very fruity.

OK - after reading through these, you mean what we call "fruit cake". I used to make them years ago, but they were always put together right after Thanksgiving. We liked lost of fruit and nuts in ours, and it "soaked" in some "spirits" until time to be cut. My mother used to make a cake called "applesause Gumdrop" cake, and I found a receipe for it this afternoon. I am going to try to make it, and see if it gets eaten. Too many don't like fruit cake. I would sure love a good slice of one right now. LOL

Good evening Chris. I have my grandmother's christmas fruit cake recipe, which we made for our daughter's wedding cake. We make it every year in early November for Christmas. It is wrapped in cheese cloth soaked it in brandy. It is great, if you would like the recipe I will post it friday morning. Hugs Lynn

Yes please Lyn I would love it. I've been wanting an old recipe for years! Love Chris

OK here goes my interpretation: I don't like the traditional Fruit Cakes which are mostly fruit stuck together and my husband is Celiac so he needs Gluten free recipes so here is the version of "Fruit Cake" or Christmas Cake I/we like:
I make my favorite Spice Cake recipe and instead of adding the amount of raisins called for I substitute the fruit (which includes the Raisins)for the amount of Raisins called for in the recipe. So if the recipe for Spice Cake you like calles for 3/4 cup of Raisins - use 3/4 cup of fruit and Raisins mixed. Now this makes a lovely Cake with fruit scattered throughout and I love it.
I use same method for husbands Gluten Free version - I buy his favorite Spice Cake mix - by "The Gluten Free Pantry" and again for the amount of raisins I substitute the mixture of fruit and raisins - so he has a nice "Cake" with fruit scattered throughout.
We both like this version best!
Enjoy!

I've come back to the thread and see lots of good recipes I will have to print out. My Mom used to make fruit cake -I should get her recipe to pass down. Its a good reminder to get those loved childhood recipes from out mom's, nanas, aunties etc. Gosh now I'm hungry for cake LOL

This is one made at Christmas in Alabama Chris. Hummingbird Cake
3 cps plain flour 1 and 1/2 cups vegetable oil
2 cps sugar 1 8 oz can crushed pineapple
1 tsp soda undrained
1 tsp cinnamon 2 cps bananas, chopped
3 eggs, beaten 1 and 1/2 tsps vanilla
2 cups pecans, chopped and divided
combine dry ingred. in lge bowl. Add eggs and oil, stir only 'till dry ingredients are moist. Stir in pineapple, bananas and 1 cp nuts. Lightly mix vanilla in batter. Gently spoon into 3 greased and floured pans. Bake 30-35 mins at 350 degrees.
Cool in pans 10 mins, remove to wire rack..
Frosting:
8 ozs cream cheese 1 tsp vanilla
1/2 stick (4 TBs) margerine softened
1 lb confectioners' sugar Garnish 1 cp nuts.

Combine crm cheese & margerine /till smooth. Add 1 lb of oonfect. suger. Beat till fluffy. Fold in 1 tsp van.
. Frost between layers and on top. Garnish with nuts. I just add nuts to the frosting mix./Lillian

Chris the hummingbird cake. The pineapple is undrained. I noticed the tsp of soda has undrained after it. Got the soda and undrained to close to one another.

Well Chris how many of these recipies have you made up and tried yet?