I’ve been wanting to get this delicious, gluten free chocolate sponge cake recipe on my blog for some time. It’s one of my favourite cakes. It’s quick and easy to make, so ideal if you’re new to baking or you want to whip up a fab cake in a hurry. 

This soft chocolate sponge cake is complimented wonderfully with the most irresistible chocolate buttercream, which is based on a Nigella Lawson recipe. I love this classic chocolate sponge cake and hope you do too! 

Whilst I absolutely love Christmas cake topped with homemade marzipan and royal icing, I know it’s not for everyone. So, I’ve also had a go a decorating a gluten free Christmas cake with shop bought marzipan and fondant icing. 

It’s quick and easy to cover a Christmas cake with fondant icing, and unlike royal icing, (which takes at least 24-48hrs to dry) can be done at the last minute.

My cake decorating skills are not great, so I didn’t have high expectations of how my cake would look. However, I was pleasantly surprised with the end result!

I have two Christmas cake decorating posts on my blog. This one, where I decorate a gluten free Christmas cake with homemade marzipan and royal icing is my favourite, as traditionally, it’s the way I’ve enjoyed Christmas cake over the years. However, as this recipe uses raw eggs it will not be suitable for everybody, so I’ve also shared how I decorated a Christmas cake with shop bought marzipan and fondant icing as an alternative. I’ve also added a few suggestions at the bottom of the page should raw eggs be off limit for you or your precious people.

I’ve had a couple of enquiries about a gluten free Christmas cake recipe. I love that because of such requests, I’m gently nudged to get on and check out things that can sometimes hang about on my to do list for far too long! Thanks for taking the time to get in touch with your requests and questions, it makes me feel that what I do is of help and value to you. 

I’ve always been a huge fan of homemade Christmas cake and feel so fortunate that for as long as I can remember, my mum would make one for us all to tuck into over the festive season. I loved my mum’s Christmas cake so much; we even had it as our wedding cake. However, as I’ve already shared a gluten free version of my mum’s Christmas pudding recipe, I thought it would be nice to ring the changes and work with a Delia Smith Christmas cake recipe. The recipe I used came from the book titled ‘book of cakes’.   

Updated 6th October 2022

Oh, I do love a good recipe recommendation. So, when Brenda, my dad’s lovely neighbour, told me that her grandson had requested her sticky gingerbread cake when he next came to stay, my ears pricked up and I wanted to hear more about this recipe that had been so eagerly requested. 

After getting all the gingerbread recipe info from Brenda, I tested out a gluten free version for myself and was delighted with the result. This delicious soft gingerbread, with its shiny sticky top, is filled with all the fragrant warming ginger spice you’d typically expect from such a cake. But with the addition of dark muscovado sugar (my little twist on the original recipe), the treacle flavour seems to intensify, making it a perfect bake for a bonfire night gathering!