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This Christmas Cake is confused: it doesn’t know if it’s supposed to be dessert or breakfast.
I’ve eaten it as both, and it fits either bill very well! A unique assortment of holiday flavors, this Christmas cake combines cranberry (one of my favorite flavors!), ginger, rum (extract, don’t worry!), apple, and hints of lemon, cinnamon, and cloves. Made with oat flour and oat fiber, two inexpensive flours, this cake is budget friendly.
You can make a cream cheese drizzle to top this cake if you like. I included a simple recipe for such a drizzle in the printable recipe below; as long as you stick within the cake serving size, the fat from the reduced fat cream cheese in the drizzle will be well within THM:E guidelines.
You can also mix some low fat Greek yogurt, sweetener, and nutmeg as a protein-rich topping if you’re eating this cake for breakfast.
I know this is called Christmas Cake and today is the first of January (woot! Isn’t this a great way to start the new year?), but I have goo-gobs of holiday recipes piling up over here from cookbook experimentation and it would be a shame not to post some of my favorites just because it is culturally unacceptable to eat Christmas-y things after December 25th. Right? Right.
When I tested this cake for the first time, I was going for gingerbread. Then I decided to add some other flavors. The first try came out super soggy, so I salvaged it by slicing it and toasting it in the oven, then again in the toaster if I wanted the leftovers hot. After the major fail, I was going to put this idea on the back burner for the present, but my dad (who is rather suspicious of a lot of my “healthy” concoctions, especially the sweet ones) tasted it and proclaimed that he thought the flavors would go over well. When he advised me not to drop the idea, I was so pleasantly shocked that I decided he must be right. I’m glad I persevered and made another attempt because it turned out great and I LOVE the flavors!
I prefer this cake warm, and it’s great sliced in half and toasted. Trim Healthy Mamas, top it with a teaspoon of butter if you like. Yum!
What does this look like to you – dessert or breakfast?
You can find this recipe in my cookbook, Necessary Food.
- 1½ cups oat flour (use gluten free if necessary)
- ¾ cup oat fiber (use gluten free if necessary)
- 2½ tsp. baking powder
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1½ tsp. ginger
- ½ tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. xanthan gum
- Rounded ¼ tsp. cloves
- ¼ tsp. THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder, or more, to taste
- ¾ cup egg whites
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
- ½ cup low fat Greek yogurt
- 2 tsp. lemon juice
- 1½ tsp. molasses
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- ½ tsp. Watkin's rum extract
- 1 medium apple, grated (it's not necessary to peel it)
- ½ cup fresh or frozen cranberries
- Whiz all the dry ingredients together in a food processor (I use our Ninja food processor attachment). Add the wet ingredients except for the apple and cranberries and process until completely mixed. Add the grated apple and cranberries and process until the cranberries are in pieces. Pour the batter into a greased 9x13 inch pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 23-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out cleanly. This yields 15 dessert servings or 8 breakfast servings. I prefer this cake warm. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.
- You can make a cream cheese drizzle for this cake using 3 oz. softened reduced fat cream cheese, 2 T unsweetened almond milk, a dash of vanilla, and 1/16 tsp. THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder. If you stick within the serving size, the fat from the cream cheese will be well within the 5 gram fat limit for a THM:E meal.
- Alternately you can mix together low fat Greek yogurt, some sweetener, and a dash of nutmeg and eat a dollop of it with your cake. This makes a great breakfast.
Suggested products:
- I used the food processor that came with our Ninja blender set.
- Oat Fiber
- Xanthan Gum
- Watkin’s Rum Extract
- You can buy gluten free oat fiber and pure stevia extract powder from the Trim Healthy Mama online store.
I saw this recipe in your cookbook and look forward to making it. Do the cranberries need to be defrosted? Also, does the apple need to be peeled before grating it?
No, you don’t have to defrost the cranberries first as long as you process them as instructed. If you decide to leave them whole, I would defrost first. And no, the apple does not need to be peeled.
I was looking at this recipe and wondered… does the recipe only call for 1/4 tsp. of sweetner? It just seemed like such a small amount. Thank you for all of your great recipes.
The recipe calls for 1/4 tsp. THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder, which is a really concentrated sweetener (equivalent to over 3/4 c. sugar, according to this sweetener conversion chart: http://www.trimhealthymama.com/main-home/sweetener-conversion-chart/). 🙂 If you don’t have the sweetener I mentioned, just use your favorite low-glycemic sweetener to taste.
Thank you – this is perfect! I have so many cranberries in my freezer (used as decoration for a church dinner and I was too cheap to throw perfectly good berries away!). These will make great breakfast and snack options for me! Can’t wait to make them!
Here are some more cranberry recipes for you if you like! https://www.briana-thomas.com/tag/cranberry/