Recipe: Vegan Christmas Cake

What’s Christmas without a fruit cake? Fruit cakes of olden days were often a joke. But this vegan version is moist and yummy and will make a great addition to your holiday traditions.

Vegan Christmas Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Candied pineapple
• 1/2 lb Citron
• 1/4 lb Candied citron
• 1/4 lb Candied orange & lemon peel
• 1/4 lb Candied cherries
• 1 1/2 lb Raisins
• 1/2 lb Currants
• 1/2 cup Grapefruit juice
• 1/4 lb Whole mixed nuts without peanuts
• 2 cups Flour
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Baking soda
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 3/4 cup Shortening
• 1 cup White sugar
• 1 cup Brown sugar
• 5 tablespoon Cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon Almond extract
• 6 tablespoons Grapefruit juice

Directions:

1. Combine pineapple, citrons, peels, cherries, raisins & currants in a large bowl.
2. Add 1/2 cup grapefruit juice, mix very well.
3. Cover & let stand overnight.
4. The next day, add the nuts & 1/2 cup of the flour to the fruit mixture & mix well.
5. Combine the rest of the flour with the baking soda, salt & cinnamon in a separate bowl, & mix well.
6. In a third bowl, beat the shortening for 30 seconds.
7. Gradually add the sugars, creaming well as you add them.
8. Stir in the cornstarch.
9. Add the beaten shortening & sugars to the fruit.
10. Gradually stir in the flour mixture.
11. Add the almond extract & the rest of the grapefruit juice, stirring well until the mixture is well combined.
12. Preheat oven to 275F.
13. Grease a 10″ square cake
14. Line with parchment paper & grease the paper.
15. Transfer the cake mixture to the cake tin and press down gently.
16. Bake for 3 hours, but check after two hours. If the top is browning too quickly, cover with some waxed paper.
17. After it is cooked, remove from the oven & place on a wire rack to cool for 30 minutes.
18. Gently remove cake from the tin & peel away the paper.
19. Let cool on wire racks till completely cooled. Wrap in waxed paper & keep in a cool place.
20. If icing the cake, layer with marzipan & then decorate as desired.

[Recipe courtesy of Recipe-search.co.uk]