This is absolutely brilliant.

Very many thanks: it is exactly what I need.

Not a nasty ingredient in sight: very rare indeed!

We will trial-run it this week.

Also really appreciate the link which has other excellent recipes as well as the one you suggested.

Much appreciate your input.

1. Fats: the most that can be tolerated is a spray of olive oil on the cookware.

    Thank you for telling me about the almond meal: it is a new igredient to me.

2. Brown rice flour, tapioca and potato flour are fine, also corn starch.

3. Yes, canned coconut milk is fine so long as there is no preservative in it.

Question: could I use fresh coconut milk, do you think?

Thank you very much for all your help.

Very many thanks.

Will search for the book.

Fresh coconut milk might have a high fat content.  If you can chill it and take off the solid fat, it would be OK.  

You can also look for lowfat canned coconut milk without preservatives (they generally use sulfite).  Read the labels.

You can also use cooked canned beans pureed with fresh water (NOT the can juice which is salty). If you use white beans, there is no taste or colour added to cake batter.  This bean cream is fat-free and can take the place of milk, cream, yogurt in recipes by using the same volume.  You may need a little more bean cream, but the baked goods will have a very good shelf life.

Use google to find other baking recipes using cooked beans in place of fat.  They are out there.

FYI Almond and other nut meals are simply finely ground nuts. The fat content is exactly the same as what is listed in nutritional databases for the whole nuts. Cocoa powder also contains 18-24% fat depending on the treatment.

Line your baking pans on the bottom with parchment paper, there is no need for any oil at all.

Appreciate your input.

Any form of margerine is out, including soy based ones.

Nearly all soy products are out: the exceptions are two brands of soy milk and two brands of soy tofu.

Anything with additive, preservative or colouring has to be avoided.

My daughter has numerous allergies, which can be handled with time and care.

The main problem is, that since a very severe attack of glandular fever, her system has become so highly sensitive to numerous other products.

I know of three other young women, in their twenties, who have the same problem.

I was going to do some trials with coconut products, to see how we go.

Thank you very much for this excellent recipe.

Also much appreciate your help with GF flours/baking.

Will trial the recipe, with appropriate replacements where needed.

Oh wow, what a great idea with the beans.

Will get onto that immediately.

Would it work if I purchased dried white beans, soaked them and then cooked them myself?

Do you mind me asking how come you know so much about this type of baking?

You seem to have lots of experience with using alternative ingredients.

Many thanks again.

Yes you can cook the beans yourself.  Simmer them in plenty of water. Easiest to use the White Northern or navy beans (small) or white kidney beans (larger).

I grew up with the European nut tortes and other fancy home baking.

Twenty years ago Alice Medrich wrote a cookbook full of cake recipes with substitutions very similar to yours. I suppose you could look it up but I remember that there were a lot of recipes with chocolate.  That was where I started trying out the alternatives.

I studied chemistry in university because I didn't have access to a chef school.  In the long run, not a heck of a lot of difference.

I will look up the Alice Medrich cookbook.

Thanks again so much. This has been so much help and given me a lot of directions to target.

I was also going to make my own fruit mince this year, having read on the jars how many additives were in the shop variety.

I would imagine that a mix of dried fruits and spices would pretty much work out.

Any suggestions about the fruit mince?

The European nut tortes sound wonderful. My father was Danish and he loved them.

That sounds wonderful, I will certainly try it.

Much appreciate the link for the book.

That is very interesting about you studying chemistry. The two people who have provided the most practical help with my daughter's allergy management ( she was so ill that she nearly died before it was correctly diagnosed), are both chemists. One is a bio-chemist, the other a chemist/physicist. They have been of immense assistance to our family in the handling of allergy problems for many years.

Again, very many thanks for your help.

Using this wonderful recipe suggested by MsGF, my daughter and I made the best Christmas cakes our family has ever tasted.

We had a trial baking day, as it was a new recipe, and were delighted with the results.

I will be posting the photographs I took, plus the actual recipe, next week.

Had to make a couple of ingredient changes because of daughter's food problems but they were very minor.

This was not an instance of compromise or making do: these fruit cakes were genuinely the best anyone in the family has ever tasted.

We are most grateful to MsGf for your brilliant contribution to our Christmas:thank you.

Photos will be posted next week.  (two happy cake-makers)