Recipe

Serves:  12 people | Prep time:  15 minutes | Cooking time:  120 minutes

British | Dairy Free | Vegetarian | Vegan | Dessert

Ingredients

Vegan  christmas cake  

• 150g (1 pack) Berry mix
• 100g Raisins
• 50g Soft prunes, roughly chopped
• 100g Apricots, roughly chopped
• 50ml Brandy
• 50ml Apple juice
• 225g Plain flour
• 170g Vegetable oil
• 170g Light brown sugar
• 1/2tsp Ground cinnamon
• 1/4tsp Ground ginger
• 50g Roughly chopped almonds
• Zest of 2 oranges
• 2tbsp. Ground almonds
• 120ml Soy drink
• 2tbsp Cider vinegar
• 3/4tsp Bicarbonate of soda
• 2 servings Brandy, optional.
• Extra Brandy or Port, optional.

  

Vegan Royal Icing

• 500g Icing sugar
• 6 tbsp Aquafaba (the brine from a can of chickpeas)
• 1-2 tbsp Corn flour

Please note that if you are making a lower alcohol version of this and don’t plan on feeding the cake with brandy it will not be preserved by the alcohol, therefore make just a few days before serving.

Method

Cake

1. Soak the berries, raisins, prunes and apricots in the brandy and apple juice for 24 hours.
2. Preheat the oven to  140°c.
3. Grease and line a baking tin.
4. Mix together the flour, oil, sugar, spices, zest, almonds and soaked fruits until mixed well.
5. Warm half the soy drink with the vinegar and add the bicarb to the rest of the soy milk.
6. Mix the two together and immediately mix in with the rest of the batter.
7. Place in the baking tin and cook for 2 hours.
8. When removed, check it’s cooked by sticking a skewer or sharp knife into the cake. If it comes out clean it’s cooked.
9. If you want to add alcohol, just poke a few holes in the cake and feed with brandy and/or port to your taste.

Icing

1. Use an electric mixer to beat the aquafaba until foamy.
2. This should take a few minutes and double in size.
3. Add the icing sugar in one and mix until smooth and thick.
4. The icing needs to be quite thick, add the corn flour to get your desired consistency.