High Protein Christmas Cake with Cricket Flour

SERVES
24
PREP TIME
30 mins
COOK
 3 hrs

 

’Tis the season to be… Healthy! Gone are the days of feeling guilty after eating copious amounts of Christmas treats, we have the perfect protein packed solution that is sure to be the talking point of your occasion! We hope you enjoy our little bonus recipe this Christmas, and we thank everyone for the support over the past year. Merry Christmas!

I have decided to begin a tradition (starting this year) of making Christmas cakes for our family, with a recipe we worked on to be a little different from the standard ‘mixed fruit’ combination. Of course it had to be a boozy Christmas cake, and it also had to include a few unique ingredients, one obviously being Cricket Flour! On the day I decided to make the first cakes and test some recipes, I looked into our liquor cabinet and we didn’t have any brandy… but I wasn’t going to let that stop me. SO I looked through some of my favourite spirits and plucked out a bottle of Thompson Whisky. It is a nice dark, peaty drop, and knew that it would be perfect, and again make this cake something a little out of the box!

We mentioned healthy earlier… that may be a big of an exaggeration, but still this cake has much more going for it from the use of the Cricket Flour. Straight away it bumps up the protein content, adds all of those omega fatty acids, B12, Iron and calcium. So it’s a step in the right direction and its not like we are having this sort of treat all year round.

Using Cricket Flour in this recipe was really great as we are after a pretty dense finished product anyway so we didn’t have to worry about affecting the rise of the cake.

 

Using cricket flour in recipes like this is a really easy way to get the benefits of eating insects. Like high levels of protein, B12, all 9 omega fatty acids, iron and calcium. Cricket Flour is a sustainable and highly beneficial form of protein. To find out more about the benefits of eating insects head to our information page here.

THIS CHRISTMAS CAKE IS:
Fruity
Boozey
Rich
Moist
Festive
High in protein
Fun to make
+ Has awesome Cricket Flour

INGREDIENTS

FRUIT MIX
1 cup each sultanas, raisins & currants
1/2 cup prunes, diced
1/2 cup dates, chopped
1/2 cup figs, chopped
1/2 cup mix peel
2 tbsp marmalade, orange
1 tbsp lemon zest
1 tbsp orange zest
1 apple, peeled and grated
1/2 cup whiskey

CAKE
100g unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup brown sugar, loosely pressed
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup standard flour
1/2 cup cricket flour
2 tbsp cocoa
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
1/2 tsp salt
75g dark chocolate, chopped

MARZIPAN
2 cups ground almonds
1/2 cups caster sugar
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

 

METHOD 

1. Fruit Mix. In a large bowl, mix together the fruit mix ingredients, pour over 1/2 of the whisky and mix. Cover, and leave for 24 hours, pour over remaining whisky and mix again. You can leave it like this for up to three weeks, just remember to stir it daily.

2. Cake. Preheat oven to 150°C. Grease a 20cm square cake tin, and line with a double layer of baking paper. Wrap a double layer of newspaper around the outside of the tin and tie with string. This will ensure that the edges of the cake don't burn/dry out. Other-wise use a wooden cake tin like this.

3. Using an electric mixer to cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 

4. Fold through the sifted flour, cricket flour, cocoa, spices and salt. Fold through chopped chocolate and the prepared fruit mix.

5. Transfer mixture into the prepared tin, smoothing the top and pressing it evenly into all areas of the tin. Bake for 3 hours. Allow to cool completely before turning out of the tin.

6. Marzipan. In a large bowl, mix together all ingredients. Turn out onto lightly floured bench and kneed until it forms a ball. Roll out between two sheets of baking paper. (Draw a 20cm square on the topside of the baking paper so I know the exact size with having any excess to trim off. Lay marzipan over cake and decorate with nuts, ginger or anything you have. Get creative!

pro tip

You can bake the cakes weeks before Christmas to alleviate last minute stress. Just pour over some whisky fortnightly.


Did you make this recipe?

We love to see your creations using cricket flour, so tag us on instagram @eatcrawlers and #eatcrawlers.