Christmas is a borrowed festival which I love to celebrate. First of all.. There’s is a special place for the Christmas cake and then there is Santa. Aren’t they good reasons to have some good spirits.
I really enjoyed the Christmas countdown during my days in Philippines. Everywhere people were gearing up for gifting, decorating, helping the community and celebrating. I love decorating the tree and soaking the fruit.
In the midst of all that i kept looking for the lovely Kerala style Christmas plum cake..
Finally came across an old snap piece of paper which my mom had hand written the recipe during one of my visits. That was a preparation with proper soaking and eggs.
This was a unique preparation, with a mild aroma from the cinnamon and cloves and with sweet bites of dry fruit. A hint of vanilla with the orange rind all made this cake so complex.Yet the cake is soft and crumbly to the touch.
Tweaking the recipe to its best over multiple trials here we are with the egg less alcohol free Christmas plum cake.
I did try various methods to soak the fruits but always felt the lingering taste of alcohol in them… Which I really did not like. Then came a long a simple solution. Made the almost perfect bake too good. Now, this eggless alcohol free version of Christmas plum cake is in super demand. It’s the second one I am baking this week… On demand.
Honestly I find this better than the doughy ones last time I bought out of greed from the store.
Next I would like to make the teacake from the tea stalls in Kerala…it has a lot of dark raisins and a hint of caraway seeds. If any of you have a recipe… Will love to try it and share it’s due credit.
Meanwhile you could try out a few of my simple beginner bakes
Christmas plum cake
Egg less and alcohol free
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup brown sugar darker the better.
- 1 cup nuts / dry fruits raisins, chopped dates, tooti- frooti, candied orange peel, sweetened cherries
- 2/3 cup apple juice unsweetened
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp orange zest
- 4 cloves
- 1 stick cinnamon stick
- 1 pinch nutmeg grated
- 1/2 cup butter use coconut oil for vegan choice
- 1 pinch salt
- 1/4 cup warm water
Instructions
- Soak the fruits in 2/3cup apple juice the previous night and leave it in the refrigerator.
- Melt the butter and set aside
- Crush the whole spices and keep ready.
- Pre-heat oven to 170C. Grease a loaf pan and set aside.
- Then, add the melted butter, vanilla ,citrus zest and sugar and whisk well
- Add in the crushed spices and gently mix.
- In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and baking soda and salt.
- Add the sifted dry mix a little at a time.
- Gently fold until the batter has no flour streaks left in in it.
- Pour into the prepared loaf tin and bake in the pre-heated oven for about 40 minutes.
- Check for fineness with a toothpick. If it comes out clean it's baked fine.
- Remove the pan and leave it to come to room temperature.
- Remove the loaf and Cool completely.
- Dust with a thin layer of icing sugar if desired or drizzle in a bit of white chocolate ganache.
- Enjoy the Christmas season.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Lovely share !
Thanks Poonam
This looks delicious!
thankyou
Great post! I have never had Plum Cake…looks yummy!
Please do try..thankyou
Healthy cake? haha! Love the nuts and fruit with whole wheat flour
I hope you could try…
Lovely bake Seema, two years ago tried baking an eggless plum cake and it failed. Had to use it up as a base for dessert. Now I have a tried and tasted recipe… yours !
That looks very delicious! I can’t wait to try it!
I love the idea of soaking the fruit in apple juice rather than alcohol and I love the fact that this is egg free too!
This looks absolutely delicious! I’ll definitely try to bake it and I’m sure everyone at home will love it!
Tweaking recipes can be a hit or miss, however, we can never really resist… and sometimes we hit the nail on the head! This Christmas Plum Cake looks amazing. You enjoy the Christmas season too!
absolutely, but then it is the most fun part when it all works together
Can we add fresh orange juice in place of apple juice
I have not tried It with orange juice honestly. But it will be worth a try for sure. However fresh orange juice may turn it it a tad bit bitter.
Actually I have tried this, it’s comes out amazing but it’s little bit crumble. It’s taste is also amazing… Thank you so much dear for such a wonderful recipe… If you have any solution for make it less crumble pls tell me…
I am so happy to see this tired review of the recipe. It happened to me too the first time. I increased the volume of juice by 3 tbsp and it was softer. Then I did buy one when in Kerala to see the texture again and realised that is the driest I have ever seen. So, maybe, try the excess juice version, you will get it softer, adjust the timings for the excess liquid added too.
Can we use add apple cider vinegar instead of apple juice..? Or a mix of both?
I have never tried baking with ACV. If your results are great ping me and i will love to try it.