Best Gluten-Free Fruit Cake (Farmhouse Style)
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Fit for any occasion this delicious Gluten-Free Fruit Cake recipe is packed with juicy sultanas, raisins, glacé cherries and mixed peel. This is a farmhouse style family fruit cake which has a light sponge packed with plump and juicy dried fruit that is humble enough for a simple tea time or can be easily decorated to suit a more special gathering. No xanthan gum is needed.
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Having a farmhouse style family fruit cake on hand for tea breaks, serving to unexpected house guests or for easy snacking feels so reassuring. It’s one of those homely cakes that can fit any occasion. A soft light sponge packed with juicy fruit and humbly decorated.
In fact you don’t really need to decorate it at all. Bare naked or with a smattering of sieved icing sugar will not detract from the this cake’s inviting nature. But for special occasions you can brush the top of the cake with a simple syrup and a handful of glistening fruit and nuts.
I'll take you through the recipe with step-by-step photos and plenty of expert tips so you can make this gluten-free cake flawlessly first time.
Why You'll Love This Gluten-Free Family Fruit Cake
- This is a light every day fruit cake, not one of those rich spiced affairs that crops up at Christmas or wedding celebrations.
- Packed with delicious dried fruit soaked in citrus to make it extra plump and juicy.
- This is not a large cake so you won’t have it hanging round for ages. It’s enough for a few simple sittings.
- Fruit Cake freezes so well that is seems almost churlish not to bake two at a time so you can stick one in the freezer for cake emergencies.
⭐️If you are looking for a dark fruit cake for the holiday season then you'll love this Gluten-Free Christmas Cake which is also suitable for a traditional wedding cake.
Ingredients Needed
Dried fruit. The choice is yours but in this recipe we use glacé cherries, sultanas, raisins, mixed peel. You can omit any of these or swap in your favourites - dried cranberries and diced dried apricot also works very well.
Orange and lemon. Make sure these are both unwaxed and organic otherwise you need to scrub off the wax. You need both the juice and the zest for this recipe.
Butter. Unsalted butter is the best choice here. Make sure it is at room temperature.
Caster sugar. It’s a fine white baking sugar. If you can only get hold of granulated sugar you can grind more finely in the food processor before you use it in the recipe.
Eggs. This recipe uses medium size, about 60g each with shell (50g each without shell). These are often classified as large eggs in the US. I recommend weighing your eggs to ensure the correct amount.
Sweet Rice Flour (glutinous rice flour). This starchy flour gives the cake a soft bouncy quality. The starchiness of sweet rice flour gives structure so the cake doesn’t crumble to pieces when you cut into it. This is not the same flour as regular rice flour and cannot be substituted for it.
Oat Flour. A light flour which has a beautiful flavour. It’s used here as well to give the cake levity and keep it from being too dense.
Ground almonds (almond flour). You are looking for blanched and ground almonds. There is a bit of labelling confusion over almond flour which is sold as ‘ground almonds’ in most major UK supermarkets and found in the baking aisle. If you want to know what exactly you are looking for then check out this post >>> Is Almond Flour The Same As Ground Almonds.
Baking powder. A leaving agent which causes the cake to rise and become light and fluffy. Do check your baking powder is gluten-free before use.
Salt. I like to use kosher salt in my baking as it has a round gentle flavour. Using salt in your baked goods lifts and sharpens all the other flavours.
Apricot jam. This is used for glazing the cake. You can substitute for marmalade or just a simple syrup.
Flour Substitutions
I don't recommend swapping the flours for an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend as the cake will be turn out too dry and crumbly. However, there are substitutions you can make if you need to:
- Sweet rice flour can be substituted for cassava flour.
- Oat flour can be swapped for sorghum flour.
How To Make Gluten-Free Farmhouse Fruit Cake
For full recipe instructions go to the recipe card at the end of this post.
- Soak glacé cherries, sultanas, raisins and mixed peel in the zest and juice of an orange and lemon for at least an hour.
- Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs one at a time and beat until well combined.
- Whisk sweet rice flour, oat flour, ground almonds, baking powder and salt together.
- Add the flours to the batter, mix well then add the soaked fruit.
- Pour into a 6 inch x 4 inch cake tin and bake for 2¼ hours.
- Remove from oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.
- Brush with warmed apricot jam and decorate with glacé fruit and nuts.
Expert Tips
- Leaving the fruit soaking in the citrus juice for an hour allows the fruit to fully absorb the liquid. You can even leave overnight to soak.
- Make sure your butter comes to room temperature before creaming with the sugar.
- This cake uses medium eggs.
- Storing – Keep the cake in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
- Freezing - You can freeze Gluten-Free Fruit Cake before you add the final brush of apricot jam. Wrap up tightly in cling film and then tin foil to avoid freezer burn. It can keep frozen for up to 2 months. To defrost remove from the freezer the night before you wish to serve it and leave wrapped up on the side to defrost. The next morning unwrap it and brush with the apricot jam as directed.
- I recommend using anodised aluminium cake tins for baking cakes as they are inexpensive and bake a lovely even cake.
- If you really want to push the boat out then I really recommend using Homemade Glacé Cherries and Homemade Mixed Peel. They are a labour of love but the difference in flavour using homemade versions is out of this world.
Variations for Gluten-Free Fruit Cake
- You can use any dried fruit – think chopped apricots, sour cherries, cranberries, diced figs.
- Add roughly chopped almonds to the sponge as well. It adds a lovely nubby texture.
- Add diced marzipan to the cake batter for a gorgeous almondy flavour.
- Add diced stem ginger and a teaspoon of ground ginger to the cake for added warmth.
Gluten-Free Dundee Fruit Cake
This fruit cake recipe owes a lot of a Dundee Fruit Cake which is a traditional Scottish farmhouse cake, and can be given its signature look by adding a circular pattern of whole blanched almonds to decorate the top before baking.
FAQs
This cake has only been tested with eggs and dairy ingredients. You can substitute the dairy if you have a favourite plant based butter which works well as a 1:1 swap. However, I don’t advise you swapping for any egg alternatives as this might alter the recipe significantly.
Yes, this cake keeps well for up to 5 days when you follow the storage instructions below.
You can store this cake in an airtight container (but preferably tin rather than plastic as it plastic will keep the cake too moist). Then store the cake in a cool dark place.
Absolutely. You can freeze the cake successfully by double wrapping it. First wrap it tightly in plastic wrap then aluminium foil. Then either place in a resealable freezer bag or airtight container. Don’t forget to label including the date. To enjoy, thaw at room temperature overnight, allowing it to come to room temperature before unwrapping and serving.
This cake is baked in a 6 inch diameter x 4 inch round cake tin. I really like to use silver anodised cake tins which give an even bake. Silver aluminium cake tins are great too.
More Gluten-Free Fruit Cake Recipes You'll Love
✨Have you tried this Gluten-Free Fruit Cake? If you liked it, please leave a 5-star ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ rating on the recipe card and consider leaving a comment as well! I would love to hear about how your recipe turned out and your feedback also helps other readers✨
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Best Gluten-Free Fruit Cake (Farmhouse Style)
Ingredients
- 100 g glacé cherries - roughly chopped
- 100 g sultanas
- 100 g raisins
- 50 g mixed peel
- 1 orange
- 1 lemon
- 150 g unsalted butter - room temperature
- 150 g caster sugar
- 2 eggs - medium
- 80 g sweet rice flour
- 60 g oat flour
- 30 g ground almonds
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 100 g apricot jam
- extra glacé fruit and almonds for decorating
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 170°C/150°C fan/ gas mark 3. Line and grease a 6 inch diameter x 4 inch round cake tin.
- Soak the glacé cherries, sultanas, raisins and mixed peel in the zest and juice of the orange and lemon for at least an hour.
- Cream the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer or in a stand mixer until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time and mix in until fully combined.
- Whisk the flours, ground almonds, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl then beat into the batter.
- Add the soaked dried fruit and mix in well.
- Pour into the cake tin and place in the oven.
- Bake for 30 minutes then turn the oven down to 150°C/130°C fan/gas mark 2 and bake for a further 1¾ hours.
- Remove from the oven, carefully insert the cake out of the tin and leave to cool on a wire rack.
- Pour the apricot jam into a small saucepan and heat until the jam is runny.
- Brush the cake all over with the apricot jam then decorate with more glacé fruit and whole almonds if you wish.
Video
Notes
- Adapted from Eric Lanlard’s Light Fruit Cake from his book Home Bake.
- For some really special additions try using Homemade Glacé Cherries and Homemade Mixed Peel.
- Make sure the butter comes to room temperature before creaming with the sugar.
- The eggs used in this recipe are medium size, 60g with shell and 50g without shell. If you can't get hold of medium eggs I suggest you weigh the amount.
- This recipe calls for the UK ingredient labelled 'ground almonds' which is blanched and ground whole almonds (without their skin). In the US this kind of flour is sold as almond flour. To make sure you know which almond flour you are choosing then check against this article The Difference Between The Almond Flours.
- If you are intolerant to oat flour you can substitute with millet or sorghum flour. There will be a slight difference in flavour.
- Store the cake in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
- This cake freezes really well for up to 2 months. I recommend freezing before you brush with the apricot jam.
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe, the flavour is lovely.
I had a bit of trouble with the cake still being soggy in the middle after baking and wondered if you had any ideas?
I am using stork instead of butter due to being dairy free, I've used it alot with gf baking and find putting 80% of the amount of butter works best, so I'm pretty sure this wasn't the issue.
I also swapped the oat flour for Sorghum flour as suggested.
However the raw batter with the fruit and juice was really wet. So I tried it again but this time draining the fruit after soaking and cooking it longer in a cooler oven but it still looked wetter than a normal sponge batter and when baked was still soggy/underdone inside, despite leaving it in longer.
I'm using an aga, just to complicate matters! I've put it in the middle baking oven for 30mins, then into the simmering cooler oven for the remaining time.
Any suggestions welcome, so keen to get this lovely recipe right!
I made this yummy Fruit Cake for Christmas. I replaced the mixed peel, with diced stem ginger. I was out of lemons and oranges but I had an open carton of good quality apple and ginger juice, in my fridge, so added that instead of citrus juice.
I have to say this Fruit Cake is the best one I’ve ever eaten. (Including those I ate, prior to going gluten-free)
Your recipes never fail to please me. Thank you so much for sharing them all, with us.
You are so welcome - thank you for your lovely feedback!
I made this yummy Fruit Cake for Christmas. I replaced the mixed peel, with diced stem ginger. I was out of lemons and oranges but I had an open carton of good quality apple and ginger juice, in my fridge, so added that instead of citrus juice.
I have to say this Fruit Cake is the best one I’ve ever eaten. (Including those I ate, in the days when I ate in pre gluten-free days.)
Your recipes never fail to please me. Thank you so much for sharing them all, with us.
Hi, so I tired this recipe last weekend and it came out perfectly delicious.
I just replaced the rice, oat & almond flour (as it wasn’t available in my kitchen at that moment ) with 170gms of gluten free self raising flour and it came out perfect .
Thank you so much x
I'm so happy to hear that - thank you for sharing your feedback on the cake!!
Hi, very interested in making your gluten free fruit cake can I add some alcohol to cake. And as I cannot eat oats what other g/f flour can I replace it with please. Thanks thanks for sharing your lovely recipe. ♥️
You could soak the dried fruit in a little brandy or rum instead of the orange and lemon juice but I don't recommend adding it in alongside otherwise the liquid ratio will be too much. There are other fruit cake recipes on my website which allow for alcohol more readily - like this Christmas Cake. You can swap the oat flour for sorghum flour, buckwheat flour or just an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend. (I don't recommend swapping the whole quantity of flour for the all purpose flour - just the oat flour).
First of all it's too pretty to eat. It's full of flavor, moist and the texture of this cake is the best part. This cake got great reviews from everyone. I will make it again.
That's great to hear - I'm so happy you enjoyed the cake!
I just made this cake, and it turned out amazing. I substituted sweet rice flour for regular white rice flour , as well as regular sugar for coconut sugar ( reduced the quantity though, as coconut sugar is a lot sweeter than regular sugar)
I must say though, my cake baked within 45/50 minutes…. not sure how that happened, but it turned out great anyways.
I'm so happy you enjoyed the cake - thank you so much for leaving your feedback.
Can I use Dove's gluten free flour?
I'm afraid it wouldn't work if you used all Doves Flour in this recipe as the cake would fall apart. This cake relies on the stickiness of the sweet rice flour (not the same as regular rice flour) to hold it together, the ground almonds/almond flour adds the protein necessary for the structure and the oat flour gives flavour and fluffiness.
Hiya, made this twice now. First attempt I just used what I had which didn't turn out well, which i was expecting, it tasted great tho. 2nd time was last night and followed recipe very close, I drained some of the fruit juice thinking about sinking fruit, maybe shouldn't have done, also could only find ground brown rice flour not the sweet rice flour you mention. Now the cake turned out fantastic, but I have one question the cake is very crumbly when cutting a slice and falls apart. Any observations or suggestions for next time. Thank you.
I'm afraid the switch from sweet rice flour to brown rice flour is the problem. Sweet rice flour is a starchy flour (often called glutinous rice flour or mochiko) and it has the binding powder and stickiness required for the cake. Brown rice flour is a wholegrain flour which doesn't have the same properties and causes cakes to crumble unless used in a blend with the right amount of starchy flour. Sweet rice flour can be found at Asian supermarkets or in the Asian aisle of supermarkets in most countries.
ahh perfect, thank you so much for the response, i'm glad that there was an issue 🙂 thanks again. Can't wait to try it again.
Hello Georgina, after a number of tries I have managed twice to make a cake that is just about right in consistency, the sticky rice flour has made a great different. My one problem now is that the fruit seems to drop to the bottom of the cake while cooking rather than being distributed throughout. The fruit seems well distributed when I put it in the tin. Do you have an suggestions.
Best wishes for a happy New Year, John
You can try tossing the fruit in flour or adding half into the whole mixture and then adding the other half scattered over the top, pressing into the cake mixture once you've put it in the tin so that they are just covered. Let me know if this helps!