This Vegan Christmas Cake is the perfect holiday treat to enjoy with a family or give as a gift. Full of fruit, nuts, and infused with alcohol, it's a decadent treat.
When it comes to desserts for the holidays, you can't go wrong this Vegan Christmas Cake. It's festive and delicious, with a dense texture that's full of flavor. This cake is easy to make ahead and enjoy for weeks, or pass out to friends as a holiday gift. Either way, it's delicious and just right for the season.
Video Tutorial
What is Christmas Cake
Christmas Cake is a rich, dense fruit cake filled with alcohol (rum, brandy, sherry) soaked fruits, warming Christmas spices, and nuts. Although the recipe I am sharing with you today comes from England, many countries make special fruit cakes to be eaten at Christmas time.
Christmas cake can be prepared months in advance, and stay in the fridge. All you need to do is "feed" it with 1-2 tablespoons of alcohol once per week or even less.
What goes in Vegan Christmas Cake
- Dried Fruits. You'll need about 30 ounces of dried fruit mix. I used raisins, dried cranberries, papaya, pineapple, apricots, and dates.
- Alcohol. Whiskey, brandy, sherry, or rum.
- Fruit Juice. I think orange juice is best here.
- Dry Ingredients. All-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, allspice, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
- Wet Ingredients. Plant butter, brown sugar, molasses or dark corn syrup, grapeseed or avocado oil.
- Egg replacement. Coconut milk and apple cider vinegar.
- Nuts. Optional. I used walnuts. Other kind can be used instead.
How to make Vegan Christmas Cake
1. Dried fruit prep. First, we need to prepare the dried fruit. Place all of the dried fruits into a medium saucepan and add the orange juice and brandy. Cover with a lid, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring once or twice. Turn off the heat and let it sit with the lid on for about 1 hour. Remove the lid and proceed with the next steps while the fruit mix is cooling.
2. Wet Ingredients. To a large bowl, add softened plant butter and brown sugar. Beat on low with an electrical mixer. Now add the oil and molasses. Beat again until everything is well combined.
3. Egg replacement. In a small bowl or a cup, mix together the coconut milk (or whichever kind you are using) and apple cider vinegar. Set aside.
4. Dry Ingredients. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, allspice, and cinnamon into a large mixing bowl.
5. Make the batter. Now add the wet ingredients together with the milk/vinegar mixture in the bowl with the flour. Using a spoon, mix everything well. At this point, add the soaked dried fruits and walnuts. Mix to combine.
6. Prep the spring pan. Start preheating your oven to 350°F. Take a 9-inch spring pan and line it with parchment paper. Use plant butter to make it stick to the walls. (The video above shows exactly how I do it).
7. Bake the cake. Pour the batter into the spring pan and cover it with foil. Bake at 350°F for 2 hours. Let it cool.
8. Feed the cake. Once cooled, spoon 2 tbsp. of brandy or whiskey over it. To store, peel off the parchment paper, then wrap well in cling film. Feed the cake with 1-2 tbsp. of alcohol every two weeks, until ready to serve. It will stay in the fridge for up to 2 months.
Can you make the Christmas Cake without alcohol?
Yes, you can use tea, fruit juice, or a flavored syrup, but it won’t have the same effect as alcohol, so don’t overdo it or your cake will be soggy. Just use extra juice or syrup in place of the alcohol in this recipe.
Tips for the best Christmas Cake
- Simmer the dried fruit. This step is important because it not only rehydrates the fruits partially, but it also infuses them with the sweet juice and alcohol.
- Sift the dry ingredients. It's best to do this because it gets out any clumps that could happen because of the flour. They would not taste good in your cake.
- Use butter to hold the parchment paper. Plant butter is a great way to get the parchment paper to adhere to the walls of the pan. Otherwise the cake will get caught in the crevices of the crimping paper.
- Feed the Christmas Cake. Don't forget to feed the cake every 2 weeks. This keeps it moist and delicious, and not stale.
Add-ins and Substitutes
- Add other dried fruits. Make this with other great options like mangoes, dried blueberries, kiwi, strawberries, and apples. Use any combination you desire, just make sure you'll end up with about 30 oz. at the end.
- Substitute other fruit juices. I like orange juice for this Christmas Cake, but you could also use grapefruit juice, apple juice, or cranberry juice.
- Make it allergen-friendly. To make this safe for those with common food allergies, skip the nuts and use gluten-free all-purpose flour.
- Substitute other nuts. Besides walnuts, you can also make this with almonds, pecans, macadamia nuts, brazil nuts, or hazelnuts.
How to store and feed Christmas Cake
To store, peel off the parchment paper and wrap the Christmas Cake well in cling film. Feed the cake with 1-2 tbsp. of alcohol every two weeks, until you're ready to serve. It will stay in the fridge for up to 2 months.
What to Serve with it
- Main courses. Serve it after a scrumptious meal of Whole Roasted Cabbage, Cauliflower Steaks with Za'atar, or Vegan Grilled Portobello Mushrooms.
- Cookies. Serve a slice of this Christmas cake with your favorite cookies. Try it with these delicious Vegan Oatmeal Cookies.
- Ice cream. Enjoy this cake with a scoop of refreshing vanilla or chocolate ice cream. Try this Vegan Banana Ice Cream for a fruity option.
- Beverages. Serve this with hot coffee or tea, or a glass of red wine.
This Vegan Christmas Cake is so delicious and makes a great gift or dessert during the holiday season. Enjoy!
More vegan Christmas recipes to try:
- Baked Potatoes and Carrots
- Whole Roasted Cabbage
- Vegan Stuffed Eggplants
- Garlic Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Vegan Christmas Cake
Ingredients
For the soaked fruits
- 5 oz. raisins
- 5 oz. dried cranberries
- 5 oz. dried apricots, diced
- 5 oz. dried pineapple, diced
- 5 oz. papaya, diced
- 5 oz. dates, diced
- 1 cup orange juice
- ⅔ cup brandy (or rum, whiskey, sherry)
For Wet Ingredients
- 8 tbsp. plant butter, softened
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 3 tbsp. molasses or dark corn syrup
- ½ cup grapessed oil (or avocado oil)
- 1 tbsp. orange zest
For Egg Replacement
- ½ cup coconut milk (or other plant milk)
- 3 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
For Dry Ingredients
- 1 ⅔ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- ½ tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. all spice
- ½ tsp. nutmeg
- ½ tsp. cinnamon
Other
- 1 cup chopped walnuts or other nuts of choice
Instructions
- Dried fruit prep. First, we need to prepare the dried fruit. Place all of the dried fruits into a medium saucepan and add the orange juice and brandy. Cover with a lid, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring once or twice. Turn off the heat and let it sit with the lid on for about 1 hour. Remove the lid and proceed with the next steps while the fruit mix is cooling.
- Wet Ingredients. To a large bowl, add softened plant butter and brown sugar. Beat on low with an electrical mixer. Now add the oil and molasses. Beat again until everything is well combined.
- Egg replacement. In a small bowl or a cup, mix together the coconut milk (or whichever kind you are using) and apple cider vinegar. Set aside.
- Dry Ingredients. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, allspice, and cinnamon into a large mixing bowl.
- Make the batter. Now add the wet ingredients together with the milk/vinegar mixture in the bowl with the flour. Using a spoon, mix everything well. At this point, add the soaked dried fruits and walnuts. Mix to combine.
- Prep the spring pan. Start preheating your oven to 350°F. Take a 9-inch spring pan and line it with parchment paper. Use plant butter to make it stick to the walls. (The video above shows exactly how I do it).
- Bake the cake. Pour the batter into the spring pan and cover it with foil. Bake at 350°F for 2 hours. Let it cool.
- Feed the cake. Once cooled, spoon 2 tbsp. of brandy or whiskey over it. To store, peel off the parchment paper, then wrap well in cling film. Feed the cake with 1-2 tbsp. of alcohol every two weeks, until ready to serve. It will stay in the fridge for up to 2 months.
Notes
Add-ins and Substitutes
- Add other dried fruits. Make this with other great options like mangoes, dried blueberries, kiwi, strawberries, and apples. Use any combination you desire, just make sure you'll end up with about 30 oz. at the end.
- Substitute other fruit juices. I like orange juice for this Christmas Cake, but you could also use grapefruit juice, apple juice, or cranberry juice.
- Make it allergen-friendly. To make this safe for those with common food allergies, skip the nuts and use gluten-free all-purpose flour.
- Substitute other nuts. Besides walnuts, you can also make this with almonds, pecans, macadamia nuts, brazil nuts, or hazelnuts.
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