Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Fruit Cake | Christmas Cake - No Soaking | Eggless | Whole Wheat | Alcohol Free

I have been searching for the perfect fruit cake with no alcohol and no eggs. I also wanted an easy version with no soaking of the dry fruits and nuts. After trial, I can say that this is one of the best cakes I have tried and tasted. Also I shared this among my friends and they loved it!
You can customize this recipe with your liking of dry fruit and nuts. There is no hard rule on what to be used. Also I have used freshly squeezed orange juice in the place of alcohol. You can substitute this with Apple or Grape Juice.
This makes a great yummy gift during the holiday season!

Makes 1 8X11 pan
Ingredients:
Whole Wheat Flour - 1 cup
All Purpose Flour - 1/2 cup
Corn Flour - 1/2 cup
Brown Sugar - 1 cup
Oil - 1/2 cup
Yogurt - 1 cup
Baking Powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Baking Soda - 1/2 tsp + 1/4 tsp
Hot Water - 2 tblsp
Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp
Vinegar - 1 tblsp
Cinnamon Powder - 1 tsp
Tea Masala / All Spice - 1 tsp
Ginger Powder - 1/2 tsp
Orange / Lemon Zest - 1 tsp

Dry Fruits: (Combined  around 2 cups) - This is what I used, finely chopped
Raisins Black
Raisins Golden
Dry Mango
Candied Ginger
Cranberries
Cherries
Fig
Dates
Tutty Fruity
Almonds
Cashewnuts
Walnuts

Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice - 3/4 cup

How to Bake?
Pre heat the oven to 350. Line a cake pan with parchment paper/aluminum foil. Spray oil.
Chop all the dry fruits and nuts roughly. Add the fruit juice.
Heat on stove top over medium low heat for 5 minutes and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl add the dry ingredients - flour, cinnamon powder, ginger powder, tea masala powder. Mix well. Set Aside.
In another mixing bowl, add the yogurt, sugar and mix well till sugar is dissolved.
Add the oil, baking powder, vanilla essence, 1/2 tsp of baking soda and  vinegar. Mix well with whisk.
Set aside, after few minutes you would notice bubbles.
Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and fold.
Add the dry fruits along with the juice. Add the zest. Gently fold in all the ingredients.
Boil 2 tblsp water and add the 1/4 tsp of baking soda.
Add this to the batter and gently fold.
Pour the batter immediately in a lined cake pan.
Bake for 55 min - 1 hour, till toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Cool for 30 minutes. Slice. Serve.

Notes:
You can use your choice of nuts and fruits.
Orange juice can be substituted with Apple or Grape Juice. Even Fruit Cider can be used. The end taste would differ to the fruit juice used.
Brown Sugar adds more moisture to the cake, try not to substitute that.









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