Christmas is just a few days away, and we can’t help but share an eggless, alcohol-free Christmas cake recipe here. I had many trial-and-error sessions with this particular cake recipe, and this one has turned out perfect. The Christmas cake is traditionally made with dried berries, dried fruits, nuts, and fruits marinated in brandy, rum, or wine for a month or even up to a year.
Eggless Christmas Cake
This is an eggless, alcohol-free fruit cake. You can decorate your cake with plums and cherries, but I prefer my cake simple, without decorations. The shelf life of this cake is longer than any other cake—it will stay fresh for up to 10 days without refrigeration. Serve this yummy Christmas cake alongside masala chai or hot dark coffee.
Gift this homemade, healthy Christmas cake loaf to your friends and family and impress them!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year in advance!
Ingredients:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 tbsp butter/vegetable oil or any unflavoured oil
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 200 gm condensed milk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
- 1/2 cup plain soda water
- Pinch of salt
- 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg powder
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
- 2 cups black grape juice
- 1/4 cup mixed berries (cranberries, blueberries)
- 1/4 cup chopped dates and raisins
- 1/4 cup chopped almonds and walnuts (Soak all chopped ingredients in black grape juice for 12 hours—first 4 hours at room temperature, then keep in the fridge.) (You can also use tutti-frutti, cashew nuts, dried figs, apricots, or other choices.)
Procedure:
- Blend together condensed milk, butter or oil, and vanilla essence for 2 minutes or until it becomes fluffy. (Use an electric beater.)
- Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices (all spices powder), and salt.
- Transfer the sifted ingredients into the blended butter and condensed milk mixture and mix well. Add 1/2 cup plain soda water. Blend the whole mixture again for a minute. Add a little water if the batter becomes too thick.
- Lastly, add the soaked ingredients along with the grape juice. Blend the mixture very lightly for a few seconds, just to mix everything together. (Ensure the dry fruit and grape juice mixture is at room temperature.)
- Transfer the cake batter into a greased cake mould (grease the mould with butter to avoid sticking). Use a bread loaf tin. Pat the tin twice to remove any air incorporated into the batter.
- Place the cake tray in the preheated oven and bake at 180°C for 45 minutes. The cake tends to darken a lot during baking. If this happens, cover the top with parchment paper halfway through the baking process. Bake until the cake turns dark brown.