Eggless Fruit Cake Recipe | Traditional Christmas Cake

eggless christmas fruit cake recipe, egg free fruit cake recipe, plum cake recipe

4.72 from 77 votes

Eggless Fruit Cake Recipe | Traditional Christmas Cake

Festive and flavorful my homemade Eggless Fruit Cake is bursting with cheerful holiday spices and delicious rum-soaked fruits and nuts. This classic recipe of an egg-free and traditional Christmas Cake makes for a light, crumbly, and perfectly moist fruit cake that you'll love to enjoy and share all season.

Prep Time1 15

Cook Time1

Total Time1 1 15

Course: Desserts

Cuisine: World

Diet: Vegan, Vegetarian

Difficulty Level: Moderate

Servings: kg Fruit Cake

Calories: 360kcal

Author: Dassana Amit

Ingredients

For soaking

¼ cup golden raisins
¼ cup black raisins (seedless)
¼ cup cashews
¼ cup chopped candied orange peels or candied citrus peels
8 dried apricots
8 to 9 dates - small to medium-sized
¼ cup tutti frutti - optional
2 tablespoons dried cherries or glazed cherries
1 cup rum or 1 cup fresh orange juice or apple juice

For cake batter

1.5 cups all-purpose flour - 187 grams
1 cup whole wheat flour - 120 grams
1.5 cups demerara sugar - 250 grams - can also add instead 250 grams brown sugar or 250 grams white sugar or 250 grams powdered sugar/confectioner's sugar
1 cup oil or melted butter, use any neutral flavored oil
1 cup soy milk or any nut milk or dairy milk
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar or regular white vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or ½ teaspoon vanilla essence

For ground spice mix

2 inches cinnamon
2 green cardamoms
2 allspice
⅛ teaspoon grated nutmeg or nutmeg powder, about 2 to 3 pinches of nutmeg powder
2 cloves - optional
½ teaspoon ground ginger (ginger powder) - optional

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Soaking nuts and dry fruits

Firstly chop all the nuts and dry fruits and take them in a bowl or a jar. Pour rum in the bowl or jar.
Cover and let the dry fruits soak for 12 or 24 hours or for 3 days. If you have used apple juice or orange juice to soak the dry fruits, then cover the bowl with an air-tight lid or a tightly with a clingfilm wrap and keep in the refrigerator.
If using any of these juices, adjust the sugar as needed or the fruit cake will become overly sweet.
After some hours or every day stir or shake the bowl or jar, so that all the nuts and dry fruits get soaked properly.

Other preparations

In a spice-grinder or dry grinder, grind the spices listed above, under the heading "for ground spice mix" except for ginger powder. Set aside.
Prepare a loaf pan or a round cake pan by greasing it very well with oil. You can also line the cake pan with butter paper.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (356 degrees Fahrenheit)for 20 minutes.

Making cake batter

Sieve the flours, baking powder and the the ground powdered spice mix. You can also add ginger powder at this step. Note that ginger powder is optional.
Add the soaked dry fruits together with the leftover rum or apple juice/orange juice.
Add the oil and demerara sugar or your choice of brown sugar or regular white sugar. Also add vanilla extract. Gently mix together the ingredients until just combined, making sure to not over-mix.
If you have used orange juice or apple juice, add about 1 to ¾ cup of sugar or according to taste.
In a bowl or mug add soy milk. Now add apple cider vinegar and stir gently.
Add baking soda and stir thoroughly. Add this frothing mixture to the cake batter.
Stir and mix quickly but evenly.

Baking

Pour in the cake pan.
Shake the pan lightly so that the cake batter is spread evenly throughout the whole pan.
Use a spatula to even the top of the cake.
Bake the cake in the preheated oven for 180 degrees celsius (356 degrees Fahrenheit) for 50 minutes to 60 minutes or more or less depending on your type of oven.
The eggless fruit cake will have a lovely golden brown color. Test the doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center and it should come out clean.
Let the cake pan cool completely on a wired rack or stand before flipping the cake out onto a plate.

Storage

Wrap the Christmas fruit cake in a cling film or store in an air-tight container at room temperature for 3 to 4 days.
The flavors mature over a period of time and thus the eggless fruit cake tastes very good after some days. If you stay in a warm climate then keep Christmas fruit cake in the fridge.

Serving suggestions

Later, slice and serve the eggless fruit cake with a glass of dairy or plant-based milk, or a hot cup of cocoa. You can also serve it as a sweet snack.

Notes

Baking: If the top of the cake browns quickly, then cover the top with parchment paper or aluminium foil.
Milk and fats: Instead of soy milk you can use dairy milk or almond milk, cashew milk or lite coconut milk. Instead of oil you can use butter.
Nuts: Feel free to add nuts like almonds, pecans, walnuts, pistachios instead of cashews. You can also opt to add a mix of these nuts. Also, make sure that these nuts are not salted.
Candied peels: Do add the candied peels as they really add some bitter notes to the cake which is otherwise sweet and this is what makes the Christmas fruit cake different from a regular fruit cake.
Soaking: The nuts and dry fruits can be soaked in orange juice or apple juice instead of rum. You can also use equal proportions of rum and wine if you want. If soaking in apple or orange juice then keep the bowl in the fridge. If kept outside even for a few hours in a warm climate like that of India, the juices will get spoiled.
Flours: This christmas cake can also be entirely made with whole wheat flour (atta) or all purpose flour (maida). You can also use pastry flour or whole wheat pastry flour.
The approximate nutrition info is per slice of eggless fruit cake.

Nutrition