This Vegan Christmas Cake is a moist fruit cake packed with Christmas flavor from cinnamon, orange, and brandy. The secret of this delicious vegan fruit cake is the slow baking method, where the cake is baked at a low temperature for 2.5 hours, which creates an ultra-moist texture.
Christmas means cake, and when we’re not making our Vegan Red Velvet Cake or our Vegan Bundt Cake, we make this classic vegan Christmas cake!
Ingredients and Substitutions
This vegan Christmas cake uses many ingredients, so be prepared for a long baking session here. It’s not a complicated recipe, but it requires love and patience. Luckily, this vegan Christmas cake recipe doesn’t require soaking the dried fruit overnight, saving you some time.
However, I usually recommend preparing Christmas cake a few days before Christmas so the cake infuses all the flavors from spices.
The cake contains two pounds of dried fruits. You can be creative and change the ratio of each dried fruit to suit your liking.
Dried Fruits
My favorite combination of dried fruits for this vegan Christmas cake recipe are these:
- Dried Raisins – or dried sultanas
- Dried Figs – roughly chopped
- Dried Apricots – roughly chopped
- Candied Cherries – roughly chopped
- Dates – Pitted and chopped you can also replace the dates with dried prunes.
- Dried Cranberries or currants
Ingredients To Cook The Dried Fruits
- Brown Sugar or coconut sugar
- Dairy-Free Butter
- Molasses
- Brown Sugar
- Orange Juice
- Lemon Juice
- Brandy or rum, or skip the alcohol and add more orange juice or apple juice.
Christmas Cake Ingredients
For the batter, you need the ingredients below
- All-Purpose Flour – You can also use white spelt flour or all-purpose gluten-free flour with gum with variation in term of texture, the cake might be dense with gluten-free flour
- Cinnamon
- Allspice
- Nutmeg
- Vanilla Extract
- Flaxmeal and lukewarm – this acts as an egg replacer.
- Almond Flour or ground almonds or oat flour
- Chopped Walnuts or pecan
- Baking Powder
How To Make Vegan Christmas Cake
Line a 9-inch round pan with parchment paper at the bottom and side. Oil with cooking spray. Set aside.
To make this fruit cake recipe, you need to soak the dried fruits or cook the fruits with the liquid ingredients. I recommend cooking the fruit to save time.
Making The Fruit Mixture
- Meanwhile, prepare the flax egg. In a small bowl, whisk flax meal and lukewarm water. Set aside until thick.
- In a large bowl, whisk all the dry ingredients together into a large mixing bowl: flour, almond flour, cinnamon nutmeg, baking powder, allspice, or mixed spices.
- In a large non-stick pot, add all the dried fruits, brandy, orange juice, lemon juice, molasse, and brown sugar.
- Bring over medium heat and bring to a light boil. Reduce heat and cook for 1-2 minutes or until the sugar is melted.
- Remove from heat and let the fruit mixture cool down for 30 minutes.
- Stir the cooled mixed fruit mixture with the dry ingredients and stir to combine evenly.
- Stir with a spatula to form a thick vegan Christmas cake batter.
- Fill the prepared cake tin with the Christmas cake batter. Bake it on the center rack of the oven for 2 hours to 2.5 hours at 300°F (150°C) or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
I recommend wrapping the top of the pan with a piece of foil after one hour to prevent the top of the cake from browning too fast.
Leave the cake to cool in the pan for an hour at room temperature. Then, transfer it to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Decorating Christmas Cake
The next day, you can decorate the cake, a traditional Christmas cake.
If you are thinking about adding a round piece of vegan fondant on top of the cake, you first need to:
- Level up the top of the cake – use a long sharp knife to remove the top of the cake and make it flat.
- Brush the top of the cake with apricot jam. The jam seals the fondant to the top of the cake.
- Place a 9-inch disc of white fondant on top of the cake.
I prefer to keep the cake plain and add natural decorations on top. Wrapping the cake with a Christmas ribbon adds colors, and a few golden Christmas sprinkles make the cake so beautiful without adding too much sweetness.
Storage Instructions
Store Christmas cakes in the fridge, in an airtight container for up to one week.
Freeze leftovers in sealed bags for up to one month and thaw them in the fridge the day before.
Allery Swaps
Below are some ingredients swap ideas if you need them.
- Gluten-Free – Use all-purpose gluten-free flour instead of wheat all-purpose flour.
- Nut-Free – Replace the almond flour with sesame seed flour, sunflower seed flour, or oat flour. Skip the walnuts or use sunflower seeds instead.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are my answers to your most common questions about this vegan cake recipe.
Yes, you can split the recipe into two 9-inch or 8-inch pans and bake them in the oven together. Place one pan in the middle rack and one pan in the below rack.
More Vegan Cake Recipes
Here are some more vegan Christmas recipes for you to try.
Did You Like This Recipe?
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Vegan Christmas Cake
Ingredients
Dried Fruits (900g, 2lbs)
- 10.5 oz Dried Raisins
- 5.2 oz Dried Figs - roughly chopped
- 2.6 oz Dried Apricots - roughly chopped
- 5.2 oz Candied Cherries - roughly chopped
- 7 oz Medjool Dates - pitted, roughly chopped
- 4.4 oz Dried Cranberries
To cook the dried fruits
- ¼ cup Orange Juice
- ⅓ cup Apple Juice
- ¼ cup Brandy - or more orange juice
- 2 ½ tablespoons Lemon Juice
- 2 tablespoons Molasses
- 8.8 oz Dairy-Free Butter (Unsalted)
- 1 ¼ cup Soft Brown Sugar
Cake batter
- 3 tablespoons Flaxmeal
- 9 tablespoons Lukewarm Water
- 1 ½ cup All-Purpose Flour
- ½ cup Almond Flour
- ½ teaspoon Allspice
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon Nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon Baking Powder
- ¾ cup Chopped Walnuts - optional
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Instructions
- In a large, non-stick saucepan, add all the chopped dried fruits, orange juice, lemon juice, brandy, molasse, apple juice, soft brown sugar, and vegan butter.
- Bring to medium-high heat, stir, and cook until vegan butter is melted and the mixture comes to a light boil. Cook until sugar is melted – it takes no more than 1-2 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool for 30 minutes at room temperature.
- Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix the flax meal and lukewarm water. Set aside for 10 minutes until it's gooey and looks like an egg texture.
- Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C). Line the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper and use a cooking oil spray to oil the bottom and sides of the pan. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk all the dry ingredients: flour, almond flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry: cooled dried fruit mixture, vanilla extract, and stir well to combine and form a thick consistent Christmas cake batter.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared cake tin, and bake in the center rack of the oven for 2 hours – 2.5 hours, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. You can foil the pan after 1 hour to prevent the top of the cake from browning too fast.
- Let the cake cool for an hour in the pan, then release it on a cooling rack and cool at room temperature overnight. Cool completely before slicing.
- Decorate with Christmas cake decor and vegan sprinkles.
Storage
- Store leftovers in an airtight cake box in the fridge for up to one week or freeze them for up to 1 month. Thaw in the fridge the day before.
I will definitely try. Looks delicious and Devine . Thank you
Am I reading correctly, that you can sub out the all purpose flour with either oat flour or a gluten-free flour with gum?
You can swap the almond flour for oat flour, but you must use all purpose flour. Gluten free all purpose might work too if it contains added gum, but as always with gluten-free flour in vegan cakes, it come out gummy and very dense.
Could you sub out the wheat flour?
Yes, you can use oat flour to replace almond flour but not to replace all-purpose flour.
Carine, your Christmas cake recipe turned my skeptical family into plant-based dessert lovers! I added crushed hazelnuts for that nutty goodness
Tried the Christmas cake recipe, and it’s pure bliss! Swapped raisins for more cranberries – turned out epic. Grateful for your delicious creations. Cheers!