“Jingle Bell…Jingle Bell Jingle all the way, Santa Claus is coming along to reign down the sleigh…”. When Christmas is around the clock…then you also wanna sing this Christmas Carol and take a bite of everyone’s favorite Christmas plum cake, loaded with the goodness of dry fruits, nuts, and cherries soaked in Fruit Juice and baked.
A traditional Christmas plum cake is made up of eggs and soaked dry fruits in rum/brandy or wine for days to give that authentic taste. But in this post, I have given a twist to the original recipe and made this cake without eggs and alcohol.
So let’s give it a try with me… I am sure you will gonna love it 🙂
Name: Christmas Plum Cake
Cuisine: Global
Course: Dessert
Origin: Plum cake has been historically referred to as an early type and style of cake in England since around 1700. For an authentic recipe, raisins and currants were used to make this cake. They were also named “Plums “in early 1660 in the “English-speaking” localities. And hence this cake got its name Plum cake. During Christmas celebrations, it’s baked more often, so it’s also gained popularity as “Christmas Plum Cake.”
About Eggless Christmas Plum Cake
Plum cake refers to a wide range of cakes made with either dried fruit (such as currants, raisins, or prunes) or fresh fruit. Nowadays, Fruit cakes are also called Plum cakes; since dried fruit is used as a sweetening agent, and any dried fruit used to be described as “plums,” Many plum cakes don’t even use plum fruit in their ingredients. The fruits and dry fruits are soaked in rum/ wine for several days to get that authentic taste. But to make eggless Christmas Plum cake, nuts are soaked in orange or grape juice to get that authentic flavor.
Main Ingredients used in Eggless Christmas Plum Cake
Refined flour, eggs, fruit juice, buttermilk, dry fruits/fruits, sugar
Calories in Eggless Christmas Plum Cake:
With a serving size of 1 slice, it will be around 141 calories.
Interesting facts about Christmas Plum Cake
Let’s have a look at some of the interesting facts about Christmas plum cakes:
- A nutty custom in Europe involved a ceremonial function where a type of fruitcake was baked at the end of the nut harvest. This cake is saved and eaten the next year to celebrate the beginning of the next nut harvest.
- In the early 18th century, fruitcake (called plum cake) was outlawed entirely throughout continental Europe. The cakes were considered “sinfully rich.” The laws were eased by the end of the 18th century, although the cake was still restricted in its use.
- Queen Victoria is said to have waited a year to eat a fruitcake she received for her birthday because she felt it showed restraint, moderation, and good taste.
- It was the custom in England for unmarried wedding guests to put a slice of a cake – traditionally a dark fruitcake – under their pillow at night so they would dream of the person they would marry.
Isn’t that sound interesting? Well, that’s some interesting facts collected and penned down by historians.
So did hunger pangs kick you after reading this post? Then why to wait till Christmas… let’s make today this delicious Christmas plum cake 🙂
Eggless Christmas Plum Cake
A traditional christmas plum cake is made up of eggs and the dry fruits are soaked in rum/brandy or wine for days to give that authentic taste. But…Here I have given it a twist and tried with no rum and no egg cake.
- Sieve
- Whisk
- Blender
- Cake mold
- Oven
For soaking dry fruits
- 1/4 cup black raisin + golden raisin
- 1/4 cup apricot and dates (finely chopped)
- 1/4 cup cranberries and fig (finely chopped)
- 1/4 cup cherries (finely chopped)
- 1/4 cup cashew nut, almond, walnut (finely chopped)
- 1 cup grapejuice/applejuice
For Cake batter
- 2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar (powdered)
- ⅔ cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp cinnamon powder
- ¼ tsp nutmeg powder
- ½ tsp cardamom powder
- 1 tsp vanilla esssence
- ½ tsp orange zest
- ¼ tsp salt
- [adjustable][/adjustable] [adjustable][/adjustable] water (as required)
- Firstly, soak all dry fruits in grape juice/orange juice /alcohol for 2 -3 hours. (or better overnight)
- Preheat oven to 180 degree celsius for 10 min
- Then sieve refined flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon powder, nutmeg powder, cardamom powder, and salt. ( sieve 2-3 times so that air pockets are built and cakes become soft and spongy)
- Now blend sugar, oil, and buttermilk till sugar dissolves.
- Now add orange zest and vanilla extract and blend again
- Now slowly mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients, fold and combine the batter evenly. Don’t over-blend the batter at this point.
- Then add squeezed dry fruits, almonds, and walnuts. And mix them with a light hand
- further, and transfer the cake batter into the cake mold.
- Bake at 180-degree celsius for 40 minutes.
- Finally, check the cake with a toothpick. If the toothpick comes out clean cake is done.
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