Here is a reliable recipe for a traditional vegan fruitcake. It’s really easy to make, moist and fruity and keeps well.
This is also a very adaptable recipe. The pictured cake was made with blackcurrant jam and cranberries for a cake with rich berry flavours and splashes of deep red, but you can also use apricot jam with chopped apricots, or lemon marmalade with chopped citrus peel, or any other combination that sounds interesting.
It’s a bit lighter on the fruit and spice than a Christmas cake, but would do the job with a measure or two of brandy or whisky drizzled over the top after baking. Allow any alcohol to soak in before wrapping up for storage or adding marzipan and icing.
This cake uses a mix of white and wholemeal flour and a mix of vegan margarine and coconut oil, which I find results in the best overall texture and flavour.
Prunes and flaxseed, alongside the wholemeal flour, make it healthier than the average fruitcake.
traditional vegan fruitcake…
ingredients
- 40 g ground almonds
- 160 g white/unbleached self-raising flour
- 160 g wholemeal self-raising flour
- 2 tsp ground mixed spice
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsbp finely ground flaxseed
- 120 g unrefined dark brown sugar
- 200 g raisins
- 125 g currants
- 125 g prunes
- 50 g dried sweetened cranberries (or substitute other dried fruit)
- zest of half a small lemon, plus 2 tbsp juice
- 60 ml maple syrup
- 130 g vegan margarine
- 100 g coconut oil
- 150 g blackcurrant jam (or substitute another flavour of jam)
method
- Set the oven to 160°C/320°F and oil/line the base and sides of an 8″ (20cm) round baking tin with baking parchment or greaseproof paper.
- Chop the prunes into pieces similar in size to large raisins. Place these in a pan together with the raisins, currant and cranberries.
- Pour 200 ml water into the pan, followed by the lemon juice and zest, jam, maple syrup and sugar.
- Stir the fruit and liquids together, and heat to boiling point.
- Remove from the heat. Add the margarine and coconut oil and stir through. Leave the mixture to cool and the fats to finish melting while you prepare the dry ingredients.
- Sift the flours and spices into a large bowl.
- Add the almonds and ground flaxseed and whisk to distribute them evenly throughout the mixture.
- Once the liquid mixture has cooled quite a bit, pour this into the flour mixture, stirring as you go. When you are sure that there are no hidden pockets of unmixed flour, transfer this mixture to the baking tin.
- Bake for fifty minutes then reduce the oven temperature to 140°C/285°F and bake for a further hour or so until the top has browned and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
- Leave the cake to cool completely, and preferably at least overnight before cutting. It will improve if wrapped and left alone for a few days but is perfectly good to eat on day two.
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