Egg-less and Alcohol free Christmas Cake Recipe
Bake this egg-less Christmas cake ahead and your dessert is sorted without any stress on the great day itself. I have been baking this egg-less Christmas cake recipe for the past 20 years. What is Christmas without a Christmas cake or pudding which is specially made for us to enjoy on this day. This is a must in our home every year for Christmas. This cake is very much a fool proof recipe.
Why to bake this Cake early?
This egg-less Christmas cake is moist and rich in dry fruits. In fact the binding material like flour is very little compared to the whole amount of fruits you add. The cake weighs 2 kgs.
I usually bake this cake well ahead of time at least 3 weeks ahead of Christmas so that the fruits can soak in and the texture improves after 2 weeks. You can omit any topping for this cake as its moist and rich enough.
Planning ahead for this cake
Why should we plan ahead. It takes roughly about 30 minutes just to get the tin and the fruits prepared. Because this cake has to be baked at very low temperature of 150 deg centigrade for 3- 4 hours, therefore plan and prep ahead of time. While the cake is in the oven we can do some other chore and still you will have to wait to cool before you can store in the tin.
You can also find the book where I got this recipe from “Great cakes without eggs. “
Egg-less Christmas Cake Recipe Tutorial
Final Notes
To conclude, I had to tweak this recipe quite a bit. Instead of white self-raising flour, I substituted with spelt flour.
Because the glazed cherries have a food coloring which is not vegetarian, I omitted it out and instead adjusted with other dry fruits. This food coloring is E 120 / Cochineal or also called Carminic acid.
For more egg-less dessert take a look at. Vegan banana muffins.
Ingredients
- Metric / US
- 225g / 2 cups White self-raising flour
- 225 g / 1 cup Butter (softened at room temperature)
- 225g / 1 cup Soft brown sugar
- 1 tsp / 1 tsp Ground mixed spice
- 1/2 tsp / 1/2 tsp Grated nutmeg
- 1 tbsp / 1 tbsp. Golden syrup
- 450ml / 1 3/4 cup Sour cream
- 75g / 3/4 cup Ground almonds
- 350g / 2 cups Currants /plums
- 250g / 1 1/2 cups Sultanas
- 175g / 1 cup Raisins
- 100g / 2 cup Glacé cherries, quartered
- 100g / 1/2 cup Chopped mixed peel
- 50 g / 1/2 cup Split almonds
- and grated rind of 1 lemon
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 150 deg Centigrade / 300 deg Fahrenheit
Method
Line the base and sides of the cake tin with a double layer of grease proof paper.
Tie a thick band of brown paper around the outside of the tin and stand it on a pad of brown paper on a baking sheet.Sift flour and spice together.
Cream butter, sugar and golden syrup together until light and fluffy.
Add in the sour cream and mix well.
Fold in flour, fruit and nuts until thoroughly mixed.
Spoon into prepared tin and smooth the top.
Bake for 3 to 4 hours. After 3 hours, test with a warm knife, if it comes out clean remove and cool.
If not bake a further of 30 min.
Leave the cake in the tin for 20 minutes to cool before turning onto a wire rack to cool.
This cake is best when you serve it plain.
Notes
To make the self-raising flour: To 100 gm of flour- add 1 tsp of baking powder and 1/8 tsp of baking soda. You can omit the golden syrup it doesn't affect the recipe.
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