Vegan Christmas Cake

This Vegan Christmas Cake is the perfect holiday treat to enjoy as a family or give as a gift. Full of fruit, nuts, and infused with alcohol, it's a decadent treat.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 3

Total Time 3 30

Servings slices

Calories 446kcal

Author Tania Sheff

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.

Video

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.

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.

Nutrition