New Delhi: Christmas is the festival of treats and sweetness, a time when people come together to enjoy great homemade food with friends or family, with a sweet note of freshly baked plum cake. Traditionally prepared with butter and eggs, plum cake is cherished for its rich, fruit flavour and celebratory essence. Today, with people becoming more conscious about lifestyle and turning vegan, they desire healthy festive choices.
A carefully prepared vegan plum cake retains all the sweetness and turns nostalgia of Christmas while eliminating the main dairy and egg products. Moist, flavourful and delightfully spiced, here is a recipe for you to prepare vegan plum cake at home and enjoy a delicious Christmas feast.
Vegan plum cake recipe
Ingredients
For soaking dried fruits
- 1 cup raisins
- ½ cup black currants
- ½ cup chopped dried figs
- ½ cup chopped apricots
- ½ cup chopped prunes
- ¼ cup candied peel/tutti-frutti
- ½ cup orange juice or apple juice
- 2 tbsp rum/brandy (optional for flavour; skip for alcohol-free)
Dry ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour (or whole wheat flour mix)
- 1 cup brown sugar or jaggery powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder
- ½ tsp ginger powder
- ¼ tsp nutmeg powder
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder (optional for colour richness)
Wet ingredients
- ¼ cup vegetable oil or melted vegan butter
- 1 cup warm plant-based milk (soy, almond, oat)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Optional toppings
- Almond slivers
- Cashews
- Cherries
Steps to prepare:
- Mix chopped nuts with juice and optional rum.
- Cover and soak it overnight to enhance flavour and moisture.
- Sieve flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa, salt and all spices into a mixing bowl.
- In another bowl, whisk oil, sugar, and vanilla extract.
- Slowly add plant milk and combine.
- Stir in vinegar to react with baking soda for an airy cake mix.
- Fold the dry mixture into the wet mixture.
- Lightly mix them both for a texture.
- Add soaked fruits with leftover liquid.
- Preheat the oven to 170°C, grease the mould and pour the batter gently.
- Decorate with nuts and bake for 45 minutes.
- Let the cake cool and slice before serving.
This year turn healthy and skip the usual cake with right ingredients and quantity you can easily prepare a fresh plum cake for yourself or your vegan guests and impress them with festive sweetness.