Christmas time calls for a good coffee cake recipe and this one is just what you’ve been looking for. The moist spiced crumb of this gluten free cake is filled with dried cranberries, toasted pecans and sweet white chocolate chips. Just what you need when guests come calling. 
Christmas is the time of year to always have a little something sweet at hand. Something so that when the doorbell rings, or when the text message tune dings, you will have a tiny treat to offer your guests when they come calling. This little coffee cake is perfect to whip up before guests come, or to take as a treat for your hostess or host when you are someone else’s guest. It’s a nice feeling to bake something to leave behind as a little gift for those who have invited you into their home. 
I took this little coffee cake with me when my sister, Mum and I went to visit my grandmother the other day after we had spent the morning helping Dad put up the annual Christmas Extravaganza. We ate cake, caught up on life, and laughed. It was the perfect afternoon to end the weekend and start the Christmas season! The combination of cinnamon, cranberries, pecans, and white chocolate conjures up the spirit of the season for me, and this little bundt looks like a Christmas wreath so its simply perfect for festive baking!
See, there’s even snow!
This coffee cake is based on a quick bread recipe, so it’s just that – quick! You can have this in the oven in under 15 minutes, and then on your table, warm and fragrant in under 35 minutes. It would be perfect for a Christmas Eve breakfast treat. If you want to make it ahead simply leave off the dusting of icing sugar, wrap it well in two layers of plastic wrap and place it in the freezer. Take it out on Christmas Eve (and remember to leave some cookies for Santa of course), unwrap it, and hey presto! Christmas Day breakfast! Perfect with a pot of tea while you unwrap gifts and spend time with your family.
Put on the oven, get out your mixing bowl and get ready to cut yourself a slice of spicy, soft, gluten free, Christmas-in-a-cake.
Cranberry, Pecan and Spice Coffee Cake
Makes 1 6-inch bundt cake | Gluten Free | Wrap leftovers tightly in plastic wrap and freeze for up to two months
Tip: when sprinkling a baked good with icing sugar, add 1 teaspoon of cornflour to the icing sugar before sifting over the top. This will stop the icing sugar from sinking into the cake!
Ingredients
- 80 grams sorghum flour
- 80 grams white rice flour
- 80 grams brown rice flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup Greek (or natural) yoghurt
- 60 grams butter, melted and cooled
- 2 teaspoons vanilla essence
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
- 2 tablespoons icing sugar
- 1 teaspoon gluten free cornflour
Method
- Preheat your oven to 180C (350F) and butter and flour a small (6 inch) bundt tin very well.
- In a large bowl whisk together sorghum flour, white rice flour, brown rice flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon
- In a medium bowl whisk together milk, yoghurt, melted butter, vanilla essence, egg and brown sugar until very well combined.
- Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Add cranberries, pecans, and chocolate chips and stir in.
- Divide mixture evenly between holes in pre-oiled muffin tin.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the top is golden and springs back when lightly touched.
- Remove cake from the oven and allow it to cool in the tin for 15 minutes. To remove easily invert onto a wire rack and tap lightly on the top of the tin.
- Once cake is completely cooled, mix together icing sugar and cornflour and place in a sieve and then shower the cake in a layer of sweetness!
