Throw away all your preconceived notions about fruitcake! This Vegan Fruitcake recipe is going to change your mind!
No green and red glaceed cherries here!
Loaded up with tons of dried fruits and nuts and spices galore!
Ginger, cloves, anise, cinnamon, allspice and cardamom spice up this fruit cake to exotic proportions!
With a combination of dried apricots, raisins, pineapple, dates, figs, cranberry and even a fresh pear!
The types of fruits you use can be changed to suit you, but this year I used a combination of dried apricots, raisins, pineapple, dates, figs, cranberry and even a fresh pear!
The hardest part about the whole thing is chopping up those fruits to tiny pieces
But otherwise this is a one bowl mix- NO MIXERS REQUIRED!
Yes there is rum in the recipe, but the alcohol gets cooked off in the first stage and then it gets baked too
I know many of you are alcohol free no matter what so you can substitute in apple juice for the rum portion
So if you are using the apple juice substitution just brush the finished fruitcake with more apple juice infused with some additional spices like cinnamon sticks, anise pods, cloves etc!
I am using a mini loaf pan for individual servings, but this whole recipe can go into 1 standard loaf pan too.
Notes for Success:
In traditional fruitcake baking, there are three steps to making the fruitcake:
1) The actual baking
2) The aging process
3) Proper storage
The aging process for a true fruitcake is between one and three months, but I am not doing that here.
Fruitcakes soaked in liquor can last for months or even years if you periodically add more liquor, which I do not do.
I am simply giving them a brushing of alcohol after baking and serving mine within days.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT TRADITIONAL FRUITCAKES CLICK HERE
In the video tutorial you will notice I was using the Plant Based Egg as an egg replacer
I regret using it so aggressively in my recipes when it first was available
Since now this product is off the market, so I have gone back to using flax meal reconstituted with aquafaba but you can also use any egg replacer you prefer
The recipe listed below reflects this updated change
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL YOUTUBE VIDEO TUTORIAL FOR HOW TO MAKE THIS CAKE!
Yield: 1 standard loaf pan or 6 mini loaves
Vegan Fruitcake Recipe
Prep Time4 hours
Cook Time20 minutes
Total Time4 hours 20 minutes
Ingredients
- Dark Raisins ¼ cup
- Dried Cranberries ¼
- Dried Pineapple ¼ cup
- Dates ¼ cup
- Dried Figs ¼ cup
- Fresh Pear ½ cup
- Candied Orange *optional or just replace with another fruit ¼ cup
- Fresh grated ginger approximately 2 teaspoons
- Orange zest 1 teaspoon
- Lemon zest 1 teaspoon
- Rum spiced or gold your choice ½ cup + more for basting *Optional
- Granulated Sugar ½ cup (100g)
- Flax meal 2 Tablespoons (16g)
- Aquafaba 6 Tablespoons (90ml) Or hot water
- Baking Soda ½ teaspoon
- Baking Powder 1 teaspoon
- Salt pinch
- Ground Cinnamon 1 teaspoon
- Ground Ginger ½ teaspoon
- Cardamon ¼ teaspoon
- Allspice 1/8 teaspoon
- Nutmeg 1/8 teaspoon
- Anise pods 4
- Whole Cloves about 10-12
- All Purpose Flour ¾ cup + 2 Tablespoons (109g)
- Applesauce ½ cup (100g) OR OIL if not using applesauce
- Vegan Butter 5 Tablespoons (70g)
- Nuts of your choice I used almonds ½ cup
Instructions
- Place the star anise pods and the whole cloves in a small pouch of cheesecloth so you can easily pull them out of the mixture later.
- Cut all the dried fruits and the pear to the same size as the raisins and cranberries and in a medium bowl, pour the rum over top.
- Let it macerate overnight at room temperature (Or to speed the process microwave for 1 minute to reconstitute) and then let it sit for 3 hours
- Chop the nuts to same size, but reserve aside for last.
- In a large sauce pot combine the macerated fruits, the zest, grated ginger, spices, sugar, applesauce and vegan butter and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes on low heat.
- Let it cool for about 15 minutes, remove the sack of whole spices (anise pods and cloves) and discard then add the nuts and the sifted flour, egg replacer, baking soda and powder .
- Pour the batter into a greased 9" x 5" loaf pan or if you are using the mini loaf pan like me, you will only get 6, be sure to fill the batter almost to the top (about 3/4 full) for whatever size [an you are using.
- Bake in a preheated 375°F oven for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350°F for another 10 minutes for the MINI LOAFS for a total bake time of 20-25 minutes.
- The large standard loaf will take 35-40 minutes total bake time.
- Cool in the pan until you can touch the pan without burning yourself and then flip out onto a wire rack to cool the rest of the way.
- While still warm, brush with additional rum *Optional see notes above the recipe section
- Cool completely then wrap well and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks
- Sprinkle loaves with confectioners sugar or ice with optional buttercream and additional fruit compote as shown in the picture
Notes
Please read the notes for success for a link to a more traditional fruitcake recipe and the storage of that kind.
Since this is more of a fruitcake recipe that is meant to be served within days and not stored for years!
This recipe for fruitcake will stay fresh at room temperature fro up to 5 days, for longer storage refrigerate for up to 1 week.
Freeze for up to 2 months
