Frohe Weihnachten!

I am writing this from Germany where I am spending Christmas with my family. Here, Christmas has already started as today is Christmas Eve and that is the day where we go to church, have a special Christmas dinner and get to open the presents with which the children get to play until late at night.

We then still have Christmas Day and Boxing Day (which we call second Christmas Day in Germany) to celebrate some more with some big roast lunches usually with goose or duck. Because of all these big dinners and lunches, we don’t usually have Christmas brunch in my family but I heard that the Christmas breakfasts in the UK and US are a much bigger thing and lots of food blogs I follow suggested special Christmas muffins or rolls for the occasion. On one of the blogs, Roost, I saw a recipe for some “Upside Down Cranberry Cakes” that I liked the sound of , so I decided to try them out and suggest them for your Christmas breakfasts.

They are not too sweet which is good as there is already a lot of sweet chocolate to get through over the festive days and they are sugar and gluten free. This might please my friends Leanne, Tracey and Emma and anybody else that’s gluten intolerant.

They’re made in a muffin tray and then turned upside down so that the shiny cranberries can be seen. Add a dollop of whipped cream and a dusting of cinnamon and there you are.

Merry Christmas everybody!

Recipe based on Cranberry & Almond Upside Down Cake by Roost.

For 10 – 12 muffin sized cakes you’ll need:

• a greased muffin tin
• 2 1/2 cups ground almonds
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground all spice
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup sunflower oil
• 1/2 cup honey

For the cranberry layer:

• 2 cups fresh cranberries
• freshly grated orange zest of 1 Orange
• freshley grated lemon zest of 1 lemon
• 1/4 cup honey

To serve:

• whipped cream

Preheat oven to gas mark 4.

Mix flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and all spice in a bowl.
In another bowl whisk the eggs, oil and honey.
Then combine the wet and dry ingredients with a fork until mixed through and set aside.

Now mix the cranberries with the citrus zests  and honey and spoon them into the  muffin tray cups. The should result in a single layer with a few extra cranberries on top in each of your 10 – if not 12 – muffin cups.

Top with the cake batter, which doesn’t have to go to the top of the muffin cups but should have an even surface.

Place the tray  in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and cooked (tooth pick test!).

If your cakes get too brown but need to cook  a few more minutes, place some foil over the tray and continue cooking.

When the cakes are ready, let them cool down in the tray for a few minutes and then take them out, turning them upside down to finish them cooling off on a wire rack. If the middle of the cakes have risen, you may need to cut the risen dome off to make a flat surface that the cake can sit on (uspide down).

Serve with some whipped cream.