Vegan Christmas cake - a rich, moist and boozy vegan fruit cake that is perfect for the festive season. Eat right away or make in advance and feed regularly with rum or brandy.
Fruit cake is a bit of a divisive one; I know that a lot of people aren't keen on it, but I absolutely love it and Christmas for me wouldn't be the same without a boozy, fruity cake to nibble on throughout the holidays.
I have blogged a couple of fruitcake recipes before, but neither of them are vegan so I was keen to come up with a vegan version that is just as good.
I tested seven (yes, seven!) different vegan fruit cakes until I came up with a recipe that I was happy with. The final version is fruitcake perfection (at least I think so anyway!). It is moist and dense, packed with boozy fruit, and full of flavour.
The dried fruit is soaked in rum (or your spirit of choice) to make it plump and flavourful. It needs to be soaked at least overnight so do make sure that you start this cake the day before you want to bake it. The fruit can be left to soak for up to a week - I gave mine three days.
The boozy fruit is stirred into a thick batter made flavourful with dark brown sugar, treacle, spices, almonds and orange and lemon zest.
I tested various different fats while developing this vegan Christmas cake, and found that the versions made with dairy free margarine were superior in both taste and texture to those made with coconut oil or sunflower oil, so that is what I have used for this recipe.
Softened coconut oil will work if you would rather use that, but I found that it yielded a cake with a more crumbly texture, and a slightly blander flavour, so if you do use it, make sure that you also add in a good pinch of salt.
Instead of eggs, this recipe uses red wine vinegar and bicarbonate of soda to provide lift. Vinegar and bicarb is my favourite egg replacer to use in cakes; I did do a couple of tests that used flax eggs instead, but I found the texture a little too crumbly.
This vegan Christmas cake is delicious freshly baked, but it can also be made up to six weeks in advance and stored, well wrapped, in an airtight container. Drizzle over a couple of tablespoons of rum or brandy every week or two, alternating top and bottom of the cake, until you are ready to ice it (if you choose to decorate it). But don't feed it for a week before icing it in order to give the surface a chance to dry out.
How To Decorate:
I was going to decorate the cake before photographing it, but I couldn't decide how I wanted to ice it so in the end I just left it plain.
Traditionally, Christmas cakes are covered in a layer of marzipan (brush the cake with warm apricot jam before covering so that the marzipan sticks.) then a layer of either royal icing or fondant. Most shop-bought marzipan and fondant is vegan, though do check the packet of course, and you can make vegan royal icing by swapping the egg white for aquafaba.
Once the vegan Christmas cake is iced, you can add decorations as you wish - I like to keep things simple and just pile some gingerbread star biscuits in various sizes on top. Check out my gingerbread topped Christmas cake recipe for inspiration.
To make a vegan version, simply swap the butter in the gingerbread for dairy free margarine or coconut oil, and follow the recipe for vegan royal icing from my Tombstone cupcakes to ice the biscuits with.
How To Make Vegan Christmas Cake:
(For ingredients and full instructions see the recipe card below)
*For the best results make sure that you follow the recipe closely. As always, I highly recommend using the gram measurements (with a digital scale), rather than the cup conversions. Cup measurements are simply not accurate enough for baking and I cannot guarantee the best results if you use them.*
You need to start preparing the fruit at least the day before you want to bake the cake.
Mix all of the dried fruits together in a large bowl that has a lid, add the rum, stir well, then cover and leave overnight (or for up to a week - give it an occasional stir).
Grease a deep 20cm/8inch round cake tin and line it with a double layer of baking parchment. Because the cake takes a while to bake the extra layer of parchment helps to stop it from burning.
In a large bowl, whisk together dairy free margarine (or softened coconut oil), dark and light brown sugars, treacle and orange and lemon zest until fluffy.
In a separate bowl, sift together plain flour, ground almonds, bicarbonate of soda, mixed spice (pumpkin spice), cinnamon and nutmeg.
Tip the dry ingredients into the margarine mix, along with some plant milk and red wine vinegar and stir until just combined; the batter should be very thick.
Stir in the soaked dried fruits, along with any leftover liquid, and some chopped almonds.
Scrape the batter into the prepared tin and use a spatula to spread it level. Because it is so thick it doesn't spread much in the oven so it is important that you get it as even as you can.
Bake for 2-3 hours until a skewer comes out clean, mine took 2 ½ hours. Leave the cake to cool in the tin on a wire rack then turn it out and brush all over with rum or brandy.
Wrap it up in baking parchment then tin foil and store in an airtight container, feeding every week or two with rum or brandy, for up to six weeks.
Variations:
You can vary the types of dried fruit that you add to suit your own tastes (I know quite a few mixed peel haters!), as long as you keep the same overall weight - a total of 660g. Chopped dried dates, figs and apricots all work well, and you could even add dried cherries, blueberries or pineapple.
To make this vegan Christmas cake alcohol free, soak the fruit in the same quantity of orange juice. Bear in mind that if you aren't feeding it with alcohol then the cake won't keep for as long, so bake it the same week that you want to serve it.
More Vegan Christmas Recipes:
- Easy ginger sheet cake
- Vegan steamed chocolate pudding
- Vegan mince pies
- Mulled wine brownies
- Woodland animal ginger cake
- Chocolate, orange and almond cake
- Starry mince pie tart
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Vegan Christmas Cake
Ingredients
- 125 g (4.5oz) raisins
- 125 g (4.5oz) sultanas
- 125 g (4.5oz) currants
- 100 g (3.5oz) dried cranberries
- 100 g (3.5oz) mixed candied peel
- 85 g (3oz) glace cherries halved
- 100 ml (⅓ cup + 1Tbsp + 1tsp) rum or brandy
- 175 g (⅔ cup + 1Tbsp) vegan block butter/margarine (I use Naturli Vegan Block) softened
- 125 g (⅔ cup) dark brown soft sugar
- 50 g (⅓ cup) light brown soft sugar (or more dark brown sugar)
- 30 g (one rounded Tbsp) treacle (or molasses)
- finely grated zest of 1 large orange
- finely grated zest of 1 large lemon
- 350 g (3 cups minus 2 Tbsp) plain (all-purpose) flour
- 40 g (⅓ cup) ground almonds
- ¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 tsp mixed spice (apple pie spice)
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- 120 ml (½ cup) unsweetened soy milk (or other unsweetened non-dairy milk)
- 2 Tbsp red or white wine vinegar or lemon juice
- 60 g (2oz) almonds chopped
- rum or brandy for feeding
Instructions
- Start preparing the fruit at least the day before you want to bake the cake.Mix all of the dried fruits together in a large bowl that has a lid, add the rum, stir well, then cover and leave overnight (or for up to a week - give it an occasional stir).
- The following day, preheat the oven to 140°C/120°C fan/275°F/gas mark 1. Grease a deep 20cm/8inch round cake tin and line it with a double layer of baking parchment.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the dairy free margarine (or softened coconut oil), dark and light brown sugars, treacle and orange and lemon zest until fluffy.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the plain flour, ground almonds, bicarbonate of soda, mixed spice, cinnamon and nutmeg.
- Tip the dry ingredients into the margarine mix, along with the soy milk and red wine vinegar. Stir until just combined; be careful not to over-mix. The batter should be very thick. If it is really dry you can add a drop more milk but be careful not to add too much, the batter should be stiff.
- Stir in the soaked dried fruits, along with any leftover liquid, and the chopped almonds.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared tin and use a spatula to spread it level. Because it is so thick it doesn't spread much in the oven so it is important that you get it as even as you can.
- Bake for 2-3 ½ hours until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean; mine took 2 ½ hours. Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin on a wire rack then turn it out and brush all over with rum or brandy.
- Wrap the cake up in baking parchment then tin foil (it MUST be completely cold first), and store in an airtight container, feeding every week or two with rum or brandy, for up to three months.
Video
Notes
- For the best results make sure that you follow the recipe closely. As always, I highly recommend using the gram measurements (with a digital scale), rather than the cup conversions. Cup measurements are simply not accurate enough for baking and I cannot guarantee the best results if you use them.
- This cake cannot be made gluten-free. It will likely be very crumbly. I have a separate gluten-free vegan Christmas cake recipe.
- The dried fruit needs to be soaked at least overnight so do make sure that you start this cake the day before you want to bake it. The fruit can be left to soak for up to a week – I gave mine three days.
- You can vary the types of dried fruit that you add to suit your own tastes (I know quite a few mixed peel haters!), as long as you keep the same overall weight – a total of 660g. Chopped dried dates, figs and apricots all work well, and you could even add dried cherries, blueberries or pineapple.
- I have successfully stored this cake for three months, feeding it with a little rum every week or two. It is a little more delicate than non-vegan fruitcake so be very gentle with it and store it in a tin so as not to squash it.
- I adapted this recipe by The Hungry Veggie to make this cake, with tweaks to suit my tastes: http://thehungryvegan.blogspot.com/2011/12/vegan-christmas-cake.html
Chloe Gaskin
I’m not sure if you’ll see this comment in time, but with the shortage of brown sugar in the country I’m unable to get any. Do you have an alternative suggestion? Could I use raw sugar? or something else?
Thank you
Hannah
Hi Chloe, you can make your own brown sugar: https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-brown-sugar-23023181 Hope that helps!
Hannah
The first fruit cake I've ever made and it turned out perfectly! Absolutely incredible; I would not change or improve upon a single thing. Everyone loved it. I will definitely be making again for next Christmas (if not sooner)!
Suzie
Love the recipe!
Do you know why it won't last more than 2/3 mos? I know traditional cakes can last years. Have you noticed much difference in the cake after that amount of time?
I'm wondering what (if anything) could be tweaked in the storage or care to help it last longer!
Hannah
Hi Suzie, I'm glad you like it! That is just the longest amount of time that I have kept one for. It may well keep for years but I can't say that it will without testing it myself.
Jane Wright
I made this for my daughter and her comment on eating a slice (or two) was lovely and light. Definitely wants one next year for Xmas.
Poppy irving
Another hit. This time I switched up the nuts and used walnuts to help my eye health, although I think the copious amounts of 43 liquor and rum may have neutralised any positive effect! This recipe is awesome thank you so much
Robin Stege
Also my first fruit cake ever! Came out fantastic! Thank you so much! I used dried tart cherries, dried cranberries, and "Tropical Fruit Chunks" all from Sprouts.
Sandy
This cake turned out perfect. I looked through numerous vegan fruit cake recipes and decided that I would trust yours, so thank you …wishing you a happy new year x
Margaret
This cake is delicious . It really reminds me of the cakes with eggs and butter that I used to make. I used essences because I didn't have an orange or a lemon. I may add that if one soaks the fruit before xmas and leaves soaking fruit in fridge for weeks and doesn't make cake till late January, it still turns out beautifully!