Mary Berry's Christmas Cake with gluten-free flour?

[Quenelle]

A question for gluten-free bakers...

I make MB's Victorian Christmas Cake every year. DH absolutely loves it and so do I. So much so that I was considering making two this year, one never seems to last long enough.

But recently DH has started a gluten-free diet. He really seems to be much better on it so doesn't want to stop over Christmas and ruin things.

Will the recipe still work if I just swap the self-raising flour for gluten-free? Is there anything else I should do to it?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

My DH is gluten free and I use a regular recipe and substitute the flour for Doves Farm GF flour. As there's not a huge amount of flour in Christmas cakes anyway, compared to all the other stuff, it seems to be fine.

I think you would need to add some xanthan gum or else it'll be too crumbly.

Thanks both. I've just googled xantham gum and read that it can cause gas and bloating. That's what DH has gone GF to prevent so I'm going to risk leaving it out.

Is there a tried and tested source of GF baking advice/recipes? It would be easier and cheaper for DS and I to eat the GF alternative as well but only if it tastes just as nice.

Fruit cakes work perfectly with gf flour. As long as you don't go mad with xanthan gum (which makes things gummy if you do) I don't think the gas is an issue.

I just use normal baking recipes with Doves Farm GF flour - Nigella, Delia, Mary Berry all work reliably, you just may have to add a little more liquid