vegan fruitcake delight!

I couldn’t resist posting this fruitcake recipe. We never had fruitcake in my family when I was growing up, so I don’t have bad memories of it, but you can’t exist this time of year and not be familiar with the jokes that go along with fruitcake.

This fruitcake, however, is dense, moist and delicious and doesn’t take weeks to cure in the back of you pantry (yuck!). It’s quick and easy and can easily be adapted to meet your fruit cakey preferences (some darker sugar or alcohol, a spike of molasses, etc).

Ah, fruitcake. The butt of many a holiday joke. But no one will give you a hard time about this light cake, studded with dried fruit and nuts. They’ll be too busy stuffing their faces with it. This version is a bit less, um, brilliant than the traditional neon-candied cherries version, but you can feel free to substitute the dried fruit with those familiar favorites if you’d like. The added bonus is that these cakes don’t need to cure, so you don’t have to start working on them in October to enjoy their Yuletide cheer!

1 cup flour
2 tbsp. sugar
1/2 teas. baking powder
1/8 teas. salt
1/3 cup agave
1/2 cup orange juice OR 1/4 cup orange juice and 1/4 cup alcohol (rum or bandy) if going for the boozy taste
2 tbsp. apple sauce
2 tbsp. oil
1 teas. vanilla
1/2 cup chopped nuts of choice
1/2 cup chopped sweet dried fruit of choice (dates, figs, raisins, etc.)
1/2 cup chopped tart dried fruit of choice (apricots, candied orange peel, tart cherries, etc.)
1/3 cup alcohol (same as used in batter) or 1/3 cup apple cider

Preheat oven to 325. Lightly grease and flour 1 loaf pan or 4 mini loaf pans.

In a small bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a medium sized bowl, combine the agave, orange juice, 1/4 cup alcohol (if using), applesauce, oil and vanilla. Whisk until combined. Add the dry to the wet in batches, until well combined. Add the nuts and dried fruit and mix until just combined. Spread the batter into the prepared pan(s). For mini cakes, bake for 24-28 minutes and for a full loaf for 45-50 minutes, until lightly golden and a toothpick comes out clean.

Remove cake from oven and set on rack. While warm, poke cake randomly with toothpick to create pin holes. Slowly and evenly pour the remaining alcohol or apple cider over the cakes, a little at at time to allow it time to absorb. Let cakes cool in pan for 20 minutes before inverting and let finish cooling on the rack.

Store cakes wrapped up or in a sealed container in fridge.