I have never attempted a dairy and egg free Christmas Cake, but it was inevitable that I would give this traditional sweet treat a try. Of course I did my usual google search and I found this wonderful blog by The Hungry Vegan and a delicious recipe for Xmas cake.
For a special, personal present to my son’s teachers this year I made this recipe into little Xmas cakes and boxed them. They looked very ‘Martha Stewart’ like and I have to say I was pretty pleased with them.
The cake is delicious, you wouldn’t know that it was dairy and egg free. The Teacher’s received the adult’s version, each mini cake, gently infused with a teaspoon of brandy.
I have modified The Hungry Vegan’s recipe to avoid nuts (because of allergies) and I have added a few other personal favourites to the mix, I hope you give this cake a try, it is certainly one that I will be making again.
Allergy Free Christmas Cake
- 150g Atta flour (wholemeal flour)
- 100g Plain Flour
- 50g Chickpea Flour
- 50g Coconut Flour
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 175g Refined Coconut Oil (liquid form)
- 175g Sucranet (or light moscavodo sugar)
- 1 tsp mixed spice
- 150g sultanas
- 200g raisins
- 150g dates
- 1 tblsp black strap molasses (or treacle)
- 100g glacé cherries, halved
- grated zest of an orange
- juice of one orange
- 1 ripe banana mashed
- 120ml soya milk
- 2 tblsps apple cider vinegar
- 1 tblsp of vanilla extract
- ¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 6 tblsps (90ml) brandy
Method
Preheat the oven to 150′C, grease a 8″ round tin and double line it with grease proof paper on the bottom. I used large Xmas muffin cases that were already pre-greased (these were only used for the presents not for my son’s cakes).
Place the dried fruits (use what ever combination you would like – just try to match the total quantity of fruit) in a bowl and add the orange juice, orange zest and vanilla extract; mix through and break apart any clumped fruit, set aside.
Warm half of the soy milk and add the vinegar, set aside. In a separate bowl, place the rest of the soy milk and whisk in the bicarbonate of soda.
Sift all the flours, and salt into one bowl; please note, you don’t have to use my combination of flours – whatever you prefer is fine.
Place the mashed banana and coconut oil into your mixer bowl, mix until uniform. Add the molasses and sucranet and beat until smooth and uniform. Fold in the flour mixture and add both soy mixtures, gently fold in the fruit mixture, mix into a uniform consistency.
Gently place the mixture into your baking dish or muffin pans and place in the oven. Bake for 2 hours if using the tin or 50 minutes for the muffin pans – keep a close eye on them – you don’t want a burned cake top! You can test if the cake is cooked by piercing its middle with a toothpick or wooden skewer, it should come out clean.
To garnish you can use glacé cherries or whatever you fancy.
Happy Baking!
