This easy Vegan Christmas Cake is rich, moist and boozy. A unique 'no soak' method gives an extra-moist texture with all the traditional festive flavours.
🍴Why you will love this recipe
Both simple to make and incredibly moist, this is a failsafe recipe for a rich and boozy festive fruit cake. Packed with your choice of dried fruits, cherries and nuts, brandy and black treacle - no one will ever guess it is vegan.
If you think soaking the fruit overnight is the only way to make a traditional Christmas cake, think again!
This unique method simmers the fruits in brandy, water and soya milk which makes them very soft and moist, infused with boozy flavour. Yes, that's right - you can make this cake in just one afternoon!
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📝 What you need
Ingredients
Mixed fruit It is entirely up to you whether you use a bag of mixed fruit from the supermarket, (perfect if you're in a hurry or don't want to buy lots of smaller bags), or whether you create your own blend of raisins, currants, dried cranberries, figs, prunes and mixed peel, or any other dried fruits you like!
Glacé cherries I prefer the natural coloured cherries (as pictured above) rather than the very vibrant red ones, but of course it is up to you!
Flours I like to use a mix of white and wholemeal self-raising flour but if you don't want to buy both, use just white self-raising flour.
Soya milk Use an unsweetened soya milk if you can, so as not to make the cake overly-sweet.
Equipment
You will need a good quality cake tin, 22cm is ideal, or 20-21cm for an extra-deep cake (which may take just a little longer to cook through). Mine is this Mary Berry loose-base tin which I love.
👩🏽🍳 How to make your Vegan Christmas Cake
For a full, printable recipe with ingredients and detailed instructions, scroll to the bottom of this page👇🏼.
In a large saucepan, mix the dried fruit, cherries light brown sugar, orange zest, black treacle, dairy-free margarine, brandy, soya milk and water. Bring to the boil then simmer for 15 minutes.
Line a 22cm cake tin with a double layer of baking parchment. Add the bicarbonate of soda to the saucepan - be careful, it will fizz up a lot!
Add the flours, ground almonds and mixed spice and stir until well combined. Pour into the prepared tin and smooth the top as much as possible.
Bake the cake for 2-2.5 hours then remove and let cool completely. Feed the cake regularly with brandy or sherry, wrap tightly in baking parchment then foil and keep in an airtight container until needed. To decorate the cake, brush all over with apricot jam then cover with marzipan and icing.
👍🏼 Reader Testimonials
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "Just want to congratulate you on an awesome vegan Christmas cake recipe! My son is allergic to milk and missed out on proper Christmas cake last year. I tried 3 or 4 recipes, but this is the best! Not crumbly, at all, lovely flavour. I made this for his School Christmas fair and it worked perfectly. i got several comments on how great this was. I know I will be making this for years to come." Louise
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "I love this recipe and it’s been my ‘go to’ fruit cake recipe for a couple of years now. There’s no need to wait for Christmas!" Helen
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "This cake recipe is great. Instructions are well written and easy to follow. All the ingredients can be purchased in a UK supermarket. Lovely and moist and not sickly sweet, this cake is just right. Highly recommended." Debbie
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "Very impressed with the recipe and the fact it uses commonly used ingredients." Emma
✏️ Top Tips and FAQs
This really is a straightforward recipe - I would almost say you can't go wrong!
If you vary the dried fruit, just remember to keep the overall weight to 800g and chop larger fruits into pieces of roughly the same size as the raisins.
Yes certainly. You can substitute orange juice for the brandy in the recipe, or just use more water instead - as long as the overall quantity of liquid is the same it doesn't matter which of these you use. You can 'feed' your cake with a simple sugar syrup to keep it extra-moist. I wouldn't recommend feeding it with orange juice as it may go off whilst the cake is maturing.
It depends! On so many variables - your flours, your choice of fruits, how much liquid bubbled away whilst it simmered, and so on. I would start checking it with a skewer or sharp knife from about 1h45min into cooking time, and keep checking every 10 minutes or so until it comes out completely clean. Even better, if you have a cooking thermometer, stick the probe into the cake and it is cooked through when it reaches 98C throughout.
Yes absolutely. Just be aware that the cooking time is greatly reduced for smaller cakes so just keep checking and testing until they are cooked through. I have heard of people making these in old baked bean tins (the type without a rim) which is a great idea, or in individual loose-bottom cake tins. A lovely festive gift from the kitchen!
If the cake starts to look too brown on top but hasn't yet cooked through, cover it with foil. You might want to check it after an hour's cooking to see how the top is looking.
Yes absolutely - I do this all year round. I would recommend swapping the brandy in the recipe for water, and don't feed it with alcohol afterwards. The choice of fruit is up to you - I usually leave out the mixed peel for a non-Christmassy cake and use mostly raisins and currants, but it is entirely up to you!
Before adding marzipan and icing the cake will keep for at least 3-6 months if stored well, (wrapped in a double layer of parchment and foil, in an airtight container in a cool place). Once decorated,
Of course, if you're not a boozy fruit cake kinda person, you might prefer to take a look at these recipes from blogging friends....
- Chloe's Vegan Gingerbread Men from Baked by Clo
- Kate's Vegan Pumpkin Cake with Ginger Frosting from Veggie Desserts
- Rhian's Gluten Free Vegan Gingerbread Loaf Cake from Rhian's Recipes
or my:
- Vegan Gingerbread Cupcakes with cinnamon icing
- Ultimate Vegan Mince Pies with 'cream cheese' pastry
- Vegan Chocolate Yule Log
- Jammy Christmas Star Biscuits
Loved this recipe? ⭐️ Leave a star rating below! 📸 Snap a photo of your finished dish and share it with me on Instagram, tagging me @thevegspace or #thevegspace 📩 And get all my latest recipes in a weekly e-mail by subscribing to my newsletter.
🎄 If you liked that...
.... you might also enjoy these vegan Christmas recipes from The Veg Space:
📖 Recipe
Vegan Christmas Cake
Ingredients
- 800 g mixed fruit (or your own mix of currants, raisins, dried cranberries, chopped figs, chopped dates or chopped prunes plus a few tablespoons mixed peel)
- 200 g natural glacé cherries
- 1 orange zest only
- 175 g light brown sugar
- 50 g black treacle
- 340 g dairy-free margarine
- 200 ml water
- 300 ml unsweetened soya milk
- 100 ml brandy or sherry (check it is vegan)
- 2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 225 g self-raising flour
- 225 g wholemeal self-raising flour (or plain wholemeal flour plus 3 teaspoon baking powder)
- 2 teaspoon mixed spice
- 100 g ground almonds
- 4-6 tablespoon brandy, amaretto or sherry (check it is vegan)
Instructions
- Take a very large saucepan and tip in the mixed fruit, glacé cherries, orange zest, light brown sugar, black treacle, dairy-free margarine, water, soya milk and brandy. Bring to the boil then simmer for 15 minutes, stirring from time to time.
- Grease a 22cm round or square baking tin, and line it with a double layer of baking parchment. Preheat the oven to 140°C (fan) / 275°F / gas mark 1
- When cooking time is up, carefully stir through the bicarbonate of soda, (the mixture will fizz and rise up the sides of the saucepan so make sure there is enough room to prevent spillages!).
- Stir through both types of flour, the ground almonds and mixed spice. Mix well so that no lumps of flour remain.
- Tip the mixture into your lined baking tin and smooth down the top as much as you can - it will not spread or level itself in the oven.
- Bake for 2 - 2.5 hours, or until an inserted skewer comes out clean - start checking from about 1h45min into cooking time. Leave to cool in the tin.
- To store until needed, wrap in a double layer of baking parchment then a double layer of foil and keep in an airtight tin or container. 'Feed' the cake with brandy, sherry or amaretto every week or so - prick it all over with a cocktail stick then pour over 3-4 tablespoons of alcohol and let it seep into the cake.
- If you wish to decorate the cake in a traditional way, brush it all over with apricot jam, roll out marzipan and cover the cake. Brush the marzipan layer with brandy then cover with rolled fondant icing. 1kg each of marzipan and icing will be sufficient to cover the whole cake.
Video
Nutrition
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ANNE TWINE says
I've made this cake twice now, the best cake I've ever tasted. I also found it was not cookedin the middle even after leaving for 20 mins more. I now know why, I presumed your temperature was for a normal oven and as I have a fan oven I was reducing the heat by 10* . I still ate it though.????
Susie Edmond says
Hello there, pardon my ignorance but is your oven fanforced or not? My old oven died couple of days ago and we have replaced it with a second hand fan forced oven. It was bad timing as I plan to do a kitchen makeover next year and get a brand new oven! Any way enough of my woes. I know that fan force oven have a reduced temp for cooking! I want to make this delightful looking cake so your help would be great!
Cheers
Susie
thevegspace says
Hi Susie, Yes sorry I should have said, mine is a fan oven. so for non-fan just up the temperature by about 20 degrees. Kate
Gigi says
Hi,
I love a bit of spice in my cake. Can I add cinnamon and nutmeg with the flour and reduce the amount of flour a little? Or is the addition of spice in this recipe unnecessary?
I’m looking forward to making this cake. The recipe is quite different to any if tried previously.
Many thanks,
thevegspace says
Hi Gigi, I think it would be lovely to include spices, and probably no need to reduce the amount of flour. Hope you enjoy it, it always turns out so well for me! Kate
Margaret Quinn says
Hi, I made this cake yesterday and it’s extremely moist inside with a sunken middle. I increased the cooking time three times after a skewer came out unclean. After the third time of checking the skewer was clean so I assumed it was cooked. Not sure what I can do with it now. I’m reluctant to throw it all away, not had this problem before. Margaret x
thevegspace says
Hi Margaret, sorry to hear your cake took so long to cook - I've made it very many times and it has always been ready in the time specified, as it has for other recipe testers, so wonder if it is down to different ovens or something? I would suggest returning it to the oven for even longer if it is still too moist, as it sounds like your mixture is very wet if it has a sunken middle.
Ruby O'Brien says
Hi. I made this cake today as a sampler for a wedding cake and I’ve just taken it out of the oven and it’s very moist to the point of falling apart. It looks and smells great and even the bits on the edges taste great but it seems very liquid like. I did find the Flaxseed didn’t go very gloopy. Can I just put it back in the oven tomorrow for a while. xx
Kate Ford says
Hi Ruby, yes absolutely it sounds like it needs a bit more cooking time. Cooking such a large cake at fairly low temperatures can always be quite variable depending on the oven so yours may well just need longer - it shouldn't be falling apart.
Marianne says
I made the cake tonight. I had a little nibble off a corner and it's so good! I can't wait to sample the final cake.
thevegspace says
Lovely to hear! So glad it has turned out well x
Marianne says
Christmas is over and the cake is gone! People raved about it - even my "real butter and whole milk for baking" sister.
I had made 5 mini-loaves so I could serve them at two holiday parties and again on the Christmas dinner table. (The other two mysteriously disappeared shortly after my niece arrived. hmmm)
Thank you so much for this recipe. It will part of our holiday dinner forever.
thevegspace says
That's great to hear, thanks so much Marianne! X
Steph Heywood says
Hi,
Thanks for an easy to follow Christmas cake recipe that's vegan. I just wondered if it would work with the addition of cinnamon or mixed spice? I'm definitely going to give if a go whatever though.
thevegspace says
Hi Steph, yes certainly, just add any spices you like - whatever takes your fancy! Let me know how you get on. Kx
Lynsey says
I’m going to make this this year! Could you use an egg replacer (I’ve got loads of Orgran no egg in my cupboard!) instead of flax eggs?
thevegspace says
Hi Lynsey, yes Orgran would work really well, as it is quite a dense and moist cake almost any egg replacer will do so I'm sure it will turn out brilliantly. Let me know how it goes! Kx
Becky says
Keen to make this cake this year, can you do the cooking of the fruit and bicarb stage and leave it to cool then do the rest the following day or should it be mixed and baked as soon as it is cool?
Kate Ford says
Hi Becky, I would recommend doing it all on the same day if at all possible - the fizzing of the bicarb gives the cake a good rise, and by the following day the air bubbles will have completely disappeared. You don't even need it to be totally cool, it is fine to mix in the dry ingredients when it it still a bit warm. Hope that helps - let me know how it turns out! Kate x
Sara says
Wow! Just found this recipe and going to give it a try on Stir up Sunday (I know it's not a pudding!)
thevegspace says
Lovely! Let me know how you get on.
Joanne Emmitt says
Hi, I'm in the process of making this cake. I've booked my fruits, added the bicarbonate of soda & it is currently cooling. Yet I seem to have an awful lot of liquid still in the mix. Is this correct? Is this quite a wet batter?
Thanks,
Joanne
thevegspace says
Hi Joanne, yes when you add the flour etc it will soak up some of the liquid, it always works really well for me and I've made it oodles of times so hope it turns out OK for you. If you haven't made a boiled fruit cake before it is quite a different process to a normal cake mixture, but stick with it and follow the instructions, I'm sure it will turn out brilliantly!
Sarah Cheng says
Hi, can I use ordinary self raising flour rather than the wholewheat? It’s just what I have in my cupboard at the moment! Also, can you soak your dried fruit first? I’ve made ordinary Christmas cake in this way already, but my son is vegan so didn’t want him to go without as he loves fruit cake! Thanks, I’m looking forward to making this!
thevegspace says
Hi Sarah, yes normal flour will be absolutely fine. There's no need to soak the fruit beforehand, it won't really make any difference as the point of boiling it up is to remove the need for soaking in advance. It tastes really good, and is boozy and very moist without needing to soak the fruit. Hope that helps, and let me know how you get on! Kate x
Sarah says
Thanks for your help Kate...I’m going to give this a go!
Chantal White says
Hi , how long before Xmas can thus cake be made and how long will it keep once decorated? Thanks ????
thevegspace says
Hi Chantal, the cake will keep for months as long as you keep it well wrapped in greaseproof paper and foil, in an airtight container. And you can decorate it in advance too - I've only ever decorated mine up to a few weeks before Christmas as I think the icing might turn very hard if left much longer. Hope that helps! Kate
Emma says
My tin wasn't quite big enough so I made a mini one too, a good excuse for a taste. It's an absolute winner! Really moist and full of flavour. I'm going to have to put a padlock on the big one till Christmas.
thevegspace says
Oh fab, and nice idea to make a little one as a taster too!!
Emma says
Mines in the oven now it's smells gorgeous!
thevegspace says
Oh lovely - glad to hear it, let me know how it goes!!
E S L says
Cake looks amazing but I only want a small one, can I do half quantity in a loaf tin,or small ones in baked bean tins,min which case what would be the cooking times?
thevegspace says
Hi Elaine, Yes absolutely, this would work really well in smaller quantities - I don't know exactly how much cooking little ones would need, but if you keep testing with a knife after 30 mins or so it will just be a case of trial and error. Let me know how it goes!
Choclette says
You are so super organised Kate. I do like a good bit of Christmas cake and you are absolutely right, why should vegans miss out? I don't make fruit cakes very often, but when I do I often use a wartime eggless recipe which is delicious. I was just thinking maybe you can get away with not using the chia.
thevegspace says
You're right Choclette, this would be worth trying without the chia as it is so moist and dense it may not need them in any case. (Though becauase they are good for you I use them as an excuse to eat more cake.... ha!). x
Sharon @ Bit of the Good Stuff says
Oh wow Kate, this looks AMAZING! Often we're warned that flax eggs don't work so well when you need to replace more than two eggs but, in your recipe, it looked like you successfully replaced 4 eggs. Is that right?
Love your step by step photos too! Can't wait to see part two! xx
thevegspace says
Thanks Sharon and thanks so much for sharing! Yes in this case I find 4 chia eggs work fine because its quite a dense, moist cake anyway - I doubt they would work in a light sponge. I'm no vegan baking expert though so would love to learn more! x
Emma : Supper in the Suburbs says
I am in awe right now. Vegan baking has always really daunted me but you've proved vegan baking can be simple but best of all GOOD! You'd never know this wasn't regular cake 🙂 well done!! Look forward to seeing your tutorial on decorating!
Jo of Jo's Kitchen says
I love Christmas cake. This looks delicious! I cannot wait to see how you decorate it
Lucy says
Your Christmas cake looks amazing! Brilliant to have a vegan version so no-one needs to miss out on the tastiness. I've never tried flax seed or chia as an egg replacer but will have to give it s go!
Nayna Kanabar says
What a lovely cake it looks delicious. I look forward to the finished cake.