Eggless Christmas Cake

Eggless Christmas Cake


We do not normally celebrate Christmas but this year I decided to indulge in baking which is typical of this holiday season. I have been lucky to use up my holidays and get some extra time on hand so decided to experiment few recipes. My husband loves the fruit cake that they sell in the stores at this time of the year. It is loaded with nuts, dry fruits and some spices. I wanted to try something similar and also to make it more christmasy wanted to add some booze. However, I always like to sick to my principles, so went for non-alcoholic red wine. I looked up few recipes but somehow none of them clicked so came up with my version using some online recipes as inspiration. I had to cut down on the nuts to keep it toddler safe and also cut down on butter to make it a touch less unhealthy. We were visiting some of my brother’s friends and as they do not eat eggs, I preferred to make eggless version. I quite liked the outcome as the consistency was quite similar to what they ought to be and also they looked and tasted similar to the traditional counterpart. So, with my best wishes for this holiday season, Christmas and New Year, here is the recipe...

3 cups self rising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup raisin
1 cup currants
1 tablespoon mixed peel
½ chopped dates
2 teaspoons all spice powder
Little salt
120gm butter
¾ cup cooking oil (preferably sunflower oil)
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup brandy/alcohol free wine
1 1/3 cup water plus another ¼ cup water
Chopped nuts like pecans/almond

Bring 1 1/3 cup water to boil and turn the flame off. Add the sugar, currants, peels, raisins, dates and bring back to boil and cook open for 5 minutes. Allow to cool a little

Add butter to this and combine and allow to cool wee bit

In a mixing bowl, bring together the flour, the spice powder, baking powder, salt and mix

Add the water and dry fruits mixture, vanilla extract, oil, wine/brandy and little water to make a batter and also add the nuts

Add chopped figs preserved in syrup

Once fully combined, add the vinegar and mix. Put the batter into a greased 24cm baking tin and bake in a preheated oven at 190degc for 30 minutes and at 180degC for further 30 minutes. One could put a foil wrap on top at about 40 minutes into the baking process to prevent scorching but I chose not to, instead I cut the top layer of the cake to make an even surface.