Small Batch Vegan Christmas Cake
Small batch vegan Christmas cake - if you don't have a lot of people to feed but still want a delicious home-made Christmas cake then this recipe is for you!
Servings 6 people
Equipment
- 15 cm/6 in round, 8 cm/3 in deep cake tin
Ingredients
- 250 g (2 cups) mixed dried fruit (raisins, sultanas, currants and candied peel)
- 60 g (½ cup) dried cranberries
- 40 g (¼ cup) glace cherries halved
- 30 g (⅓ cup) chopped almonds (optional)
- 60 ml (¼ cup) rum, whisky, brandy or sherry (plus extra for feeding)
- 90 g (6 ½ Tablespoons) vegan block butter
- 80 g (7 Tablespoons) dark brown soft sugar
- 15 g (1 scant Tablespoon) black treacle or molasses
- 60 ml (¼ cup) unsweetened non-dairy milk (I use soy)
- 1 teaspoon vinegar
- finely grated zest of 1 large orange
- ½ teaspoon mixed spice (or pumpkin spice)
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 25 g (¼ cup) ground almonds (almond flour)
- 175 g (1 ½ cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
Optional Decoration:
- 9 glace cherry halves
- 32 blanched almonds
Instructions
- Place the mixed dried fruits, cranberries, glace cherries, chopped almonds, alcohol, butter, brown sugar, treacle, milk, vinegar and orange zest in a large saucepan. Heat gently, stirring often, until the butter has melted then bring to the boil. Boil for about 30 seconds then remove from the heat and set aside to cool until just warm, about 1 hour.
- While the mixture is cooling, preheat the oven to 150°C/130°C fan/300°F/gas mark 2. Grease a deep 15 cm/6 inch round cake tin and line it with a double layer of baking parchment.
- Stir the mixed spice, cinnamon, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and ground almonds into the fruit mixture, followed by the flour. It should be a thick batter with no dry patches.
- 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.
- Optionally, arrange circles of blanched almonds and halved glace cherries on top of the cake and press them lightly into the batter.
- Bake the cake for about 1 ½ hours, until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- Allow the cake to cool for 30 minutes then brush with 1 Tablespoon of your preferred alcohol. Leave to cool in the tin completely (about 8 hours).
- Once the cake is completely cold, remove it from the tin and brush all over with a little alcohol.
- 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 alcohol, for up to three months.
Notes
- See post above for tips, details and step-by-step photos.
- USE SCALES. As with all of my baking recipes I really do recommend using the metric measurements with a digital scales rather than the cup conversions. Cups are a wildly inaccurate measuring system and you will get far better, more consistent results using a scale, not to mention that it is also easier and less messy than cups!