Gluten Free, Wheat Free, Dairy Free Rich & Fruity Cider Cake Anyone?

So.. Today is the eleventh day before Christmas .... which means that if you haven’t started thinking about foods, recipes and meals for the Holidays then you better jump on the band wagon or you’ll miss it - especially if you need food allergy friendly ‘Free From’ items which have a nasty habit of disappearing off the shelves rather quickly! Note: Down to Earth only take Gluten Free cake and pudding orders, so time is definitely of the essence)

This year, I’ve noticed the Foods of Athenry EVERYWHERE.. they’re in:
- Gourmet Grocers
- Health Food Shops (I got mine in The Hopsack)
- Markets
- Luxury Corner Stores like ‘Fresh’ (definitely the one located in Grand Canal Dock)

It’s great to see the company expanding so much and its even better for the Free From community because their products are top notch. The Foods of Athenry’s ‘Rich & Fruity Cider Cake’ is the perfect christmas treat and stands in (for me) as a marizpan and icing free christmas cake. It’s moist, fruity and makes me want more! It comes in a 450g shrink wrapped round size that looks like a giant muffin.

The essential part, as is the case with all Gluten Free products, is to eat it while it’s fresh. I opened mine, and had a finger or two while I was cutting it and thought that it was amazing! It tasted exactly like the ‘real’ wheaty, gluteny, milky thing... even F. agreed that there was no difference ... but then two hours later, after it had been lying out sliced up and exposed to the air it began to get dry and as F. said: transformed into a ‘gluten free’ product. It’s almost like a Cinderella cake that MUST be eaten before it gets turned back into a pumpkin. Although, I will say that even when it was a bit drier and tasted gluten free it was still nice, it’s just that the magic was gone.....
So, do buy it but save it until exactly the time you want to eat it and if you can’t eat all 450g maybe try immediately wrapping the remainder tightly in cling film until you need a pinch of magic again!

- Milk Free
- Gluten Free
- Wheat Free
- Soya Free (I rang and confirmed!)
- Yeast Free (but contains sugar & dried fruits)
- Vegetarian
- No Hydrogenated Fats
- No Artificial Colours, Flavour or Preservatives

The cake is about €8.99 or there about which seems a bit steep for the size of it but it’s actually quite tasty and larger than it looks.

Ingredients: Fruit 42% (Raisins, Sultanas, cherries, Mixed Peel, Dates), Gluten Free Flour (Rice, Potato, Tapioca, Maize & Buckwheat), 100% Vegetable Margarine, Brown Sugar, Eggs, Irish Cider 5%, Mixed Nuts 4%, Cinnamon, Mixed Spice, Orange Rind Oil, Lemon Rind Oil, Concentrated Fruit Juice, Rice Starch, Raising Agents (ono-Calcium Phosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate), Xanthan Gum
Contains: Nuts, Peanuts, Eggs

Nutritional Information per 100g:
Energy 1418.8kJ/337.9kcal
Protein 6.3g
Carbohydrates 47.0g
of which sugars 36.8g
Fat 13.8g
of which saturates 0.8g
of which trans fats 0.01g
Sodium 0.151g
equivalent as salt 0.377g
Vitamin B7 7.61ug
Vitamin D 1.10ug
Copper 0.28mg
Potassium 356.72mg