Eggless Fruit Cake {Non-Alcoholic!}

A deliciously moist fruit cake, apt for the season! The dry fruits are soaked in orange juice, so it is 100% non-alcoholic and baked without any eggs! 

 

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This recipe barged its way into the Bakeathon for all good reasons, from not being a part of the plan. I am not a fan of fruit cakes. I somehow can’t stand the dense cakes that you get from the bakeries. The texture and the general sweetness just puts me off. If somebody offers me a piece, I do eat it because I don’t know how to say a “no”.  But it surely isn’t something that I enjoy eating unlike most cakes. That can be a reason why I never attempted baking a fruit cake in first place. The other reason has to be the time taken to make it. The chopping of the fruits and nuts and then the time it would take for the soaking, followed by treating the batter very gently and then the long baking – everything seemed to be a put-off for me. I am generally impatient – just saying… 😉

 

This time, I really don’t know why I have been wanting to make a fruit cake myself. Somehow the urge was really high to resist. Last weekend, I made a pit stop at a large Lulu hypermarket and picked up quite a lot of dry fruits. I already had enough nuts at home, so didn’t bother with them. I picked up freshly squeezed orange juice too – yes, yes, I am lazy to make them myself + cost calculations meant it was cheaper than the effort! 😉 – and set home. Since Priya had invited us for lunch on Saturday, it was the perfect time to try an eggless version. I haven’t baked a decent eggless cake in a really long time. Surprisingly, this happens to be the only eggless bake among all the Bakethon posts… What followed was the cutting and soaking of all the dry fruits. I baked the cake on Friday morning and let it rest for almost 24 hours. It wasn’t easy. My girls were getting very impatient, despite the fact that they aren’t fond of fruit cakes, just like me. Hehe…

 

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The major inspiration for this cake came from Mayuriji and Dassanaji’s recipes, they seemed very similar to each other, but I tilted to Dassanaji’s proportions for the flours for the cake. Since it is an eggless cake, it is more of a mix-in-one-bowl process, but in no way, it can be handled. I figured out that you need a light hand and have to literally molly coddle the batter to ensure that it fluffs up and stays soft. Since there is no creaming of eggs in an eggless cake, the softness comes from soda-buttermilk process. You have to make sure that as soon as the batter is mixed, it goes into the pan and into the oven almost immediately. Keeping it out for even five minutes can lead to a harder cake.

 

Some pointers I learned while making this recipe can be helpful for you as well, if you do want to try the cake:

  1. Keep the fruits at more or less the same size. It will ensure even cooking and texture wise, will look better.
  2. I went overboard with the dry fruits, but for basic use, you can just keep raisins, sultanas (I didn’t use this), prunes (I didn’t use as well), cherries, dates and figs. Same goes with nuts. You can just use cashews or whatever is available in your pantry.
  3. Since we are soaking in orange juice, it is not recommended to soak more than 12 hours. The juice may get bitter and give a different taste to the cake.
  4. You may soak in apple juice or cooled black tea, if you aren’t keen on orange juice.
  5. I didn’t soak the nuts, instead I roasted them, chopped them, and added them directly. You may soak them but I thought it wasn’t required, if you love the chewiness nuts will give to the whole cake.
  6. Tossing the nuts along with the soaked dry fruits into the flour, before adding the remaining wet ingredients, will ensure that they get coated with it and stay spread in the cake. Otherwise they will stay suspended at the bottom of the cake, upon baking.
  7. If you do miss the above step, then add a tablespoon of flour into the fruit and nut mixture, and add into the batter.
  8. You can use the flours in proportion of your choice – complete all purpose or complete wholewheat flour.
  9. Brown sugar can be replaced with regular sugar, though brown sugar gives a nice caramel like flavor to the final cake.
  10. The mix of spice powders is upto you – I would keep the clove the same and maybe increase the cinnamon to 1 tsp next time. 🙂 If you have nutmeg in your pantry, you may add around 1/4 to 1/2 tsp of it too.

 

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I took it to Priya’s house without slicing it and had a taster from there. I was really glad that the cake had such a crumbly texture and all the fruits and nuts just complimented each other.  It had such a beautiful crust and I am already thinking of making a small cake with half the recipe with the remaining dry fruits in the pantry, hehe… I think I shouldn’t leave this post without having a word about the TamBrahm feast that she prepared for us. Originally, this was planned early this year but then some emergencies came in and it got cancelled. Then what followed is nothing new to anybody. Finally, we had it this weekend. Only Huma, Fajee and I could make it but we really enjoyed the simple authentic feast. It was truly an example of how the body felt nourished along with the heart. My girls were a bit upset that they were going to have a pure vegetarian lunch, but the way they licked up everything that was served up on the banana leaf told another story. To have a view of what all dishes she served us, you can go on her IG handle here.

 

Since I love to post clicks of sliced cakes – who wouldn’t love to have a look at how the cake would look inside! – I took advantage of Priya’s coffee corner, which has such a pretty money plant, MaShaAllah, and took a click of the slice in her brand new Ikea plate. 😉 This is the advantage of having food blogger friends – they understand exactly what you want! Hehe…

 

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5 from 5 votes

Eggless Fruit Cake {Non-Alcoholic!}

Course Cakes
Cuisine Indian
Prep Time 12 hours
Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time 13 hours 30 minutes
Servings 12 -16
Author Rafeeda

Ingredients

  • 2 cups dry fruit refer notes
  • 1 cup fresh orange juice
  • 1 cup mixed nuts almonds, walnuts, cashews
  • 225 gm butter
  • 1 cup milk
  • 2 tbsp vinegar
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 cup wholewheat flour
  • 1 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp ginger powder
  • 1 tsp cardamom powder
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
  • 1/4 tsp clove powder
  • 1 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

  • Chop all the dry fruits into equal sized pieces. Transfer to a glass bowl with a lid. Pour the orange juice and allow it to soak in the fridge overnight.
  • Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Grease a 10 inch spring-form pan generously.
  • Melt the butter and allow it to cool.
  • Slightly toast the nuts and chop them coarsely.
  • Add the vinegar to the milk and allow it to curdle, around 10 minutes.
  • Meanwhile take out the fruits and allow it to come to room temperature.
  • Sift together the flours, salt, baking powder and spice powders into a large mixing bowl. Add the sugar and whisk together.
  • Now add the nuts and toss. Add the dry fruits with all the liquid that maybe in the bowl and the melted butter. Fold with a spatula till nicely mixed.
  • Add the baking soda to the milk-vinegar mixture and allow it to froth. Immediately, add into the batter and fold in till well combined.
  • Spread into the prepared pan and tap lightly to flatten the top. Bake for 50 minutes to one hour till skewer comes out clean.
  • Allow to cool completely before serving.

Notes

I used 1/2 cup of raisins, and the remaining was filled with dried cranberries, dried cherries, dried mango, dried papaya, a few dried apricots, around 4 dried figs and some dates.

 

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  1. 5 stars
    Awww thank you rafee! It was a pleasure having you guys and I m happy the girls loved it too 😍 the click looks brilliant! Finally my plate shows up with food for a blog , lovely pictures da! Thanks for the lovely cake😋

  2. 5 stars
    The cake has turned out great and the texture looks so good…clicks are superb

  3. 5 stars
    Rafeeda the Christmas Cake looks awesome. Thank you so much for using my recipe as a reference. I just baked 2 batches to give away as present to family and friends.

  4. 5 stars
    Enjoyed reading this Rafeeda, so fantastic and lovely. Read about the feast. Such a delicious meal , one thing about your post you take the reader along with you, that makes it so good.

  5. Awesome cake Rafeeda! The slice looks wonderful and delicious. This is a perfect Christmas fruit cake.

  6. 5 stars
    I love cakes of all kinds. Light and fluffy and also dense ones. This fruit cake looks fabulous. It has turned out so well

  7. The pictures say it all Rafee ! The cake looks just fantastic , and all the tips to follow are great . I like the idea of adding roasted nuts , they will give a wonderful crunch. And so we finally get a eggless recipe from you !
    It is wonderful meeting with friends , specially after such long tiering and frustrating times , and I am sure the plates were licked off Priya cooks so well ! Also I love her for being so fun loving ! Hoping to meet you some day too :))

    1. Rafeeda AR Author says:

      Same here too… 🙂

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