Quick and delicious Eggless Christmas Fruit Cake recipe with step-wise pictures. This Christmas fruit cake is made with homemade caramel and instant soaked fruits, making it one of the easiest yet delicious holiday cake recipes!
So this is one of my most favorite cake recipes during this season of holidays – Eggless Christmas Fruit Cake! Would you believe if I said I have been trying to make/post this recipe since a couple of years?! It is very special just because I got to make so many trials of this beautiful cake, perfecting over two seasons of Christmas and finally got around making it properly this time.
If you are a non-baker, you probably wouldn’t be able to relate to this, but baking involves a bit of luck – you pray the baking goddess that there shouldn’t be an unscheduled power cut and that your bake turns out perfect. My luck is such that in all the 5 attempts I have tried this cake, I was faced with power cut twice and the other times I was missing an ingredient or two and I did not feel the vibe to share the recipe. This year I have been buying an ingredient or two I would need for my Eggless Christmas Fruit Cake all through the year and finally got around making it yesterday.
Giving my penchant for eggless cakes, I wanted to make this as an Eggless Christmas Fruit Cake and at the same time, I didn’t want it to lose any charm from the traditional recipes. And the other major problem I had to tackle was to make this Christmas Fruit Cake non-alcoholic. So soaking my dry fruits and nuts in rum or brandy was out of question for me (may be one day!) I decided to make an instant version of Eggless Christmas Fruit Cake that requires no pre-planning at all and it was delicious, even if I say so myself.
Christmas Fruit Cake has a very distinct flavor, texture and color. I did not want to lose any of that, making this non-alcoholic, no egg version of the fruit cake. I made caramel to give my cake a beautiful rich brown color and soaked my dry fruits and nuts in hot water and orange juice mixture. The cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and cardamom in the cake gives it a feeling of warmth and much needed flavor. This recipe makes a cake that is not overly sweet as I considered all the dry fruits I used in the cake, making it perfect for a side with coffee/tea.
Check out other Christmas recipes from my blog.
How to make Eggless Christmas Fruit Cake | Eggless Caramel Fruit Cake
📖 Recipe
Eggless Christmas Fruit Cake | Eggless Caramel Fruit Cake
MEASUREMENT
1 cup = 250ml, 1 tablespoon = 15ml, 1 teaspoon = 5ml
Ingredients
For Fruit Mixture –
- 4 tablespoon Golden Raisins
- 4 tablespoon Black Currants/Black Raisins
- 3 tablespoon Dried Cranberries
- 3 tablespoon Chopped Cherries
- 2 tablespoon Finely Candied Orange Peels
- 6 Dates Chopped
- 10 Walnuts Chopped
- 10 Almonds Chopped
- 10 Cashews Chopped
- ½ cup Hot Water
- ½ cup Fresh Orange Juice
For Caramel
- ¾ cup Sugar
- ½ cup Water
For the Cake –
- 2 cups All Purpose Flour
- ⅓ cup Cooking Oil
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ teaspoon Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla Essence
- ¼ teaspoon Cinnamon Powder
- ⅛ teaspoon Nutmeg Powder quarter inch Nutmeg piece
- ⅛ teaspoon Clove Powder 3-4 Cloves
- ⅛ teaspoon Cardamom Powder 2 Cardamoms
- 1 tablespoon Icing Sugar optional
Instructions
Soaking the Dry Fruits and Nuts –
- In a mixing bowl, add all the chopped dry fruits and nuts – walnuts, almonds, cashews, orange peel, raisins, cranberries, cherries and dates.
- Add ½ cup of hot boiling water.
- Next add ½ cup of fresh orange juice. Mix the fruits well and keep it closed for 10-15 mins until the caramel and cake mixture are ready.
Making Caramel –
- In a sauce pan, add ¾ cup sugar and set it on low flame.
- In a few minutes, the sugar begins to melt at the edges turning a light golden color.
- Don’t mix the sugar at all but give it a quick shake couple of times and in next few minutes, entire mixture turns golden brown. In just few seconds, the mixture turns glossy and deep golden brown.
- Remove from heat and quickly add water. Be cautious and careful as the caramel would be quite hot and it might splutter while adding water. Stand away from it. Mix it to ensure there are no hard caramel bits. Let this cool down completely.
Making Christmas Fruit Cake –
- Preheat the oven at 180°C for 10 mins. In a mixing bowl, add all the dry ingredients – all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon powder, nutmeg powder, clove powder and cardamom powder.
- Mix it well. I used my Kitchen-aid stand mixture and ran it on the lowest speed.
- Next add oil to the dry mixture.
- Add the soaked dry fruits and nuts mixture. Whisk at the lowest speed for a minute. Add vanilla essence.
- Next add the caramel water and whisk for a couple of minutes. The mixture should look smooth and lump-free.
- Pour the cake batter into a greased and lined baking dish. I used 8” round cake pan but a 9” or 10” pan works too.
- Bake for 40-45 mins until the tester comes out cleans. Let the cake cool down completely before cutting it. Dust icing sugar on top.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for a day or for 3-4 days in the fridge.
Detailed step-wise picture recipe of making Eggless Christmas Fruit Cake | Eggless Caramel Fruit Cake
Soaking the Dry Fruits and Nuts
1. In a mixing bowl, add all the chopped dry fruits and nuts – walnuts, almonds, cashews, orange peel, raisins, cranberries, cherries and dates.
2. Add ½ cup of hot boiling water.
3. Next add ½ cup of fresh orange juice. Mix the fruits well and keep it closed for 10-15 mins until the caramel and cake mixture are ready.
Making Caramel –
1. In a sauce pan, add ¾ cup sugar and set it on low flame.
2. In a few minutes, the sugar begins to melt at the edges turning a light golden color.
3. Don’t mix the sugar at all but give it a quick shake couple of times and in next few minutes, entire mixture turns golden brown. In just few seconds, the mixture turns glossy and deep golden brown.
4. Remove from heat and quickly add water. Be cautious and careful as the caramel would be quite hot and it might splutter while adding water. Stand away from it. Mix it to ensure there are no hard caramel bits. Let this cool down completely.
Making Christmas Fruit Cake –
1. Preheat the oven at 180°C for 10 mins. In a mixing bowl, add all the dry ingredients – all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon powder, nutmeg powder, clove powder and cardamom powder.
2. Mix it well. I used my Kitchen-aid stand mixture with paddle attachment and ran it on the lowest speed.
3. Next add oil to the dry mixture.
4. Add the soaked dry fruits and nuts mixture. Whisk at the lowest speed for a minute.
5. Add vanilla essence.
6. Next add the caramel water and whisk for a couple of minutes.
7. The mixture should look smooth and lump-free.
8. Pour the cake batter into a greased and lined baking dish. I used 9” round cake pan but a 10” round or rectangle pan works too.
9. Bake for 40-45 mins until the tester comes out cleans. Let the cake cool down completely before cutting it. Dust icing sugar on top.
10. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for a day or for 3-4 days in the fridge.
Recipe Notes
- For a sweeter cake, use upto 1 cup of sugar.
- Instead of orange juice, apple juice can be used too.
- If you have time, soak the fruits for upto a day in the fridge.
- Check for the doneness of the cake after 35 mins and keep baking more if needed until 40-45 mins. My cake took 45 mins as the cake tin was only 8” wide and the cake was tall.
I would be delighted to know if you have tried this recipe, don’t forget to share your feedback and comments below. If you have any questions, you can e-mail me! I am also available on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter 🙂
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