This Vegan Fruitcake is my fourth fruitcake I have baked for the blog. Each year I try to make another version and the idea of a Vegan Fruitcake came to me quickly as I am currently quite interested in vegan baking and a search on the web did not deliver results that exactly blew me away.
So I then set about to tweak the recipe of the first fruitcake I baked, the Chocolate Fruitcake of 2013. It is a Nigella Lawson recipe that I have tweaked over the years (seemingly adding more booze with each bake) so with this vegan fruitcake I tried to create as a delicious and festive cake that did not contain any butter, eggs or honey.
I am thrilled with the result, it is a rich and very moist cake without being “cloying” and packed with flavour.
The appeal of the original Chocolate Fruitcake is that it does not have a lengthy ripening time and only needs to rest for about 10 days or so and it is ready to eat. I replaced the eggs with flax eggs (a mixture of flax meal and water), replaced the butter with coconut oil and added Pink Lady apple sauce for moisture.
A fruitcake has to be packed with fruit, I can not stand the supermarket versions where you see more cake than fruit and this cake has over a kilo of fruit in it. I soaked the fruit in coffee liqueur and kept the cacao of the original fruitcake as it does add a delicious depth to the cake.
For this Vegan Fruitcake I have simplified all the different types of liquor I used in the original recipe so kept it to coffee liqueur to soak the fruit, half a cup of amaretto to pour over the cake as it comes out of the oven (I love the punchy almond flavour of amaretto but you can use brandy) and then brushing with brandy for the 10 days the cake rests. If you do not want to use brandy, rum makes a flavoursome alternative.
Enjoy!
I am pleased to introduce my new cookbook, Drunk and Hungry available as an epub download. As the title states, the book consists of easy and flavourful recipes for when you find yourself drunk, and hungry. Savoury, sweet, vegan, vegetarian, bacon, cheese, spice, and carbs are packed into 15 easy recipes to satisfy your hunger while tantalising your tastebuds. You can purchase the book by clicking on this link and all you need to read it is a free epub reader such as Apple Books, Fullreader or similar.
I have built up quite a number of recipes over the years that I hope will offer some inspiration for the upcoming holiday season and you can view them at this link : Christmas and Holidays
Vegan Fruitcake
Ingredients
- 150 g dried prunes chopped
- 500 g prepacked dried fruit cake mix
- 100 g raisins
- 100 g sultanas
- 200 g glace cherries
- 175 g coconut oil
- 300 g dark muscovado sugar
- 150 ml coffee liqueur
- juice and zest of 2 oranges
- 2 tbsp cocoa
- 2 tsp mixed spice
- 1 tsp instant espresso powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 45 ml flax meal
- 110 ml water
- 175 g flour
- 100 g ground almonds
- 100 g apple sauce
- 100 g mixed nuts of your choice roughly chopped (optional)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 100 ml brandy rum or amaretto
- extra brandy or rum for brushing during resting
Instructions
- Place the fruit, coconut oil, sugar, liqueur orange juice and zest, cacao, mixed spice, espresso powder and salt in a saucepan and slowly bring to a slow boil while stirring
- Simmer for 10 minutes, remove from the heat and let it stand to come to room temperature
- Pre-heat the oven to 150 degrees C.
- Line the sides and bottom of a 22cm loose bottom cake tin with baking paper
- Double line the sides of the tin with baking paper and make sure the paper is about 3cm higher than the edges of the tin
- In a large bowl, add the flax meal and water, mix and let it stand to thicken for a few minutes
- Add the fruit, flour, almonds, apple sauce, nuts (if used), baking powder to the flax mixture and mix well
- Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for about 2 hours or more until the cake is firm and the top is quite shiny
- Start testing if the cake is cooked 15 minutes before 2 hours are up by inserting a cake tester into the middle of the cake
- Do not worry if there is a very slight bit of moist batter attached to the tester but it must not be raw batter attached to the tester
- If the cake is too uncooked return to the oven for another 15 minutes and test again and repeat if needed until the cake is cooked through
- Cover the top with foil so that the cake does not become too dark on top
- When the cake is cooked, remove from the oven and pierce some holes with the cake tester
- Pour the brandy, rum or amaretto carefully over the hot cake
- Let the cake cool down completely and remove from the cake tin
- Wrap tight in tinfoil and let it rest for 10 days in an airtight container brushing with more brandy every few days until serving
More photos, food and travel stories on: Instagram Pinterest Twitter Facebook
Check out the other Fruitcake Recipes :
Chocolate Cherry Spelt Fruitcake
Discover more from heinstirred
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
liensvegblog
Nov 19, 2017
Looks amazing once again, Hein!!
heinstirred
Nov 20, 2017
Thank you so much Lien
Amber
Nov 25, 2017
What is meant by “mixed spice?” Is there a premixed set of spices, or is there a combination of spices that you use?
heinstirred
Nov 25, 2017
Hello Amber. It is a premix that we get here in South Africa : cassia, coriander, pimento, cloves, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. If you can not find something similar I would suggest making up your own mix of what you have available
Di @ Bibbyskitchen
Nov 27, 2017
Cake + Stand + photography – a big yes from me! Love it.
heinstirred
Nov 27, 2017
Thank you so much Di xx
Dominique Solomon
Dec 9, 2017
Such incredibly beautiful photos Hein!
heinstirred
Dec 9, 2017
Thank you so much Dominique
ronakmehta6219
Oct 1, 2020
Baked this cake for my birthday and it was an absolute hit! So moist and tasty. Thank you for doing what you do
heinstirred
Oct 1, 2020
Thank you so much for the kind words and so happy you enjoyed the cake. Love your website!
vishalkumar96288
Aug 11, 2021
Hi really like the way you presented this fruits cake recipe this recipe will surely help e to bake this delicious cake for my wife’s 26th birthday
heinstirred
Aug 11, 2021
Thank you so much and happy birthday to your wife!
vishalkumargiri911
Aug 11, 2021
I really enjoyed seeing this recipe it will surely help me to bake this cake thanks for sharing
heinstirred
Aug 11, 2021
Hope you enjoy! It is delicious.
levanilla
Apr 12, 2022
Great fruitcake recipe! Thanks for sharing the recipe with us.
heinstirred
Apr 12, 2022
It is only a pleasure! So glad you enjoyed