This is not the traditional Christmas cake.
The bold letters for those, who came here looking for traditional Christmas cake. I don’t think I have ever tasted a traditional fruit cake that is associated with Christmas. I wanted to try one for a long time now. But most of the recipes I saw had rum in it. As I have never used any kind of alcohol in my cooking, I was a bit hesitant to try it. The second reason was eggs. 90% of my readers want eggless cakes, I have been observing this for a long time now. If I post some cake with eggs, they anyway ask for a substitute. I feel very uncomfortable giving some advice that I have not tried myself. So I thought of trying out something without these two star ingredients. Also, I didn’t want to go out for grocery shopping in this cold weather, wanted to try with something that I have in my pantry.
This recipe is based on a rich plum cake recipe that I saw in a old Kannada magazine. It originally had 6 eggs and some of the proportions were different. I spent almost an hour thinking of substitutes for most of the ingredients. But when I started posting this, I realized I could have searched in the google and would have found so many recipes that would have fitted my requirements 
. Anyway, I am happy that I tried this, because it came out very moist and very delicious. I could not stop myself from digging in to this as soon as it came out of oven. So it kind of crumbled 
.
Check out some fruit cake recipes at Jugalbandi, Dalithoy, Spyciana, Mishmash, Passionate about baking, whats for lunch honey, Food in the main and others.
Ingredients:
1 cup(125 gms) all purpose flour
1/2 cup(100gms) + 1/4 cup(50gms) sugar
7 tbl spn(100gms) butter
Spice powder – 2″ cinnamon + 4 green cardamoms + 5 cloves powdered
3/4 cup fresh orange juice
1 tea spn vanilla extract
1/2 tea spn baking powder
1 tea spn baking soda
2 tbl spns orange marmalade (any mixed fruit jam can be used)
1/4 tea spn salt
Dry fruits -
1/3 cup(50gms) raisins
1/4 cup(50gms) chopped prunes
1/2 cup(50gms) chopped pecans
1/2 cup(50gms) chopped cashews
1/2 cup(100gm) tutti frutti
Method:
Preheat the oven at 350F for about 10mins.
Take all the dry fruits in a bowl. Melt the butter and add it to the fruits. Mix.
Heat 1/2 cup sugar with 1tbl spn water in a thick bottomed pan till it becomes dark brown in color (caramel. If you burn this, the cake become bitter, so be careful).
Add this to the fruits and mix. When it is cooled a bit, add orange marmalade, orange juice, 1/4 cup sugar and salt, spice mixture, vanilla.
Sieve together flour, baking powder and soda.
Add these dry ingredients to the fruit mixture a little at a time, mixing with a spoon.
Grease a baking dish and pour the batter into it. Bake it at 350F for about 25-30mins or till a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
Wait till it cools down to room temperature and then cut it. (I tried to cut it before it cooled, so it crumbled).
PS: This cake is very dense due to amount of dry fruits used in it.
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131 Responses to Eggless fruit cake
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Just popped this baby in the oven! I added some glaced cherries and some orange rind too. If the batter is anything to go by this is going to be one yummy cake! Thank you
xx
Just thought I’d leave you a little message on how my cake making went. After 30 mins when I inserted the skewer it came out gooey and the cake was obviously not set, I could tell because when inserting the skewer it wobbled a bit. I just took it out now, an hour later and it’s finally done. I’m not sure what happened… I used a preheated oven (180c). All in all, it looks amazing, and I can’t wait to try it
Yes Natasha, this definetely bakes for like 50 minutes. mine just came out and by look wise I can tell that its come out well. can’t wait to cut and serve my husband who eats only fruit cake.
Hi Shilpa,
Made this today… I added some cherries and walnuts as well.. it was awesome!!! only one observation- to caramelize the sugar, when I added a tbsp of water acc to the recipe, the sugar hardened and did not caramelize at all. I then took a fresh batch of sugar and heated it up without the water. It caramelized within 2 mins….
You think I may have done something wrong the first time?
Great! I am trying it now. it’s a teetotaler’s vegan cake. I love it. I can tell my daughter that we also make rich cake for Christmastime this time. THANK YOU
i just can’t get the caramel right…it just gets solid after i remove from stove…already destroyed three batches of sugar getting the caramel right dunno where ia m getting wrong:(((….please help me…
Caramelized sugar is hard when cooled. You must use it right then before it cools!
What if we want to add only honey instead of sugar? any recommendations?
Mine is in the oven now…followed all the advice. I had the same problem with the sugar crystallizing and looked it up on google. I then added 1 tsp lemon juice, and wet the side of the pan with a brush dipped with water to stop the crystallization. Then only shook the pan but didn’t stir at all ( only in the beginning to mix the water and lemon juice. It all worked well.
Can’t wait to see end result…
Hi,
This fruit cake recipe is awesome. I have baked it thrice and each time it is as delicious and leaves my family wanting more. The only problem I am facing is that my cake keeps crumbling.
One turn-around i found is to make smaller muffins/ cup-cakes instead of a big cake. This successfully avoided the crumbling issue.
But i would like to have one big cake that doesn’t crumble. Any ideas on that?
Shilpa,
Do you use caramel right after u take it off gas? Because as it cools it would solidify.
How does it remain liquid till u finish rest of the process of cake?
Neeta
Yes, I add it as soon as it is done. I keep everything else ready
Hi Shilpa,
This cake sounds awesome! My daughter’s first b’day is coming up in the next month. I was planning on baking this cake. I am allergic to eggs, so was on the lookout for an eggless cake. One of my friend’s had made this cake for her son’s second bday, and it was absolutely awesome.Can you suggest an icing that would look great on this one. Also, alternatively,can you suggest any other eggless cake which would be appropriate since my baking skills are v basic. Awaiting your reply. Thanks
Alternatively, could you suggest an eggless version for the fruit Gateau (A fruity cake). I am keen on making a fruit cake for the bday. Thanks
Hi Shilpa!
What size baking tin did you use for this cake?
Hi. Don’t we require to beat the butter & sugar in this recipe. Does it turn out fluffy/ soft? Pls reply soon. Would love to try out!
Yes, this is a tried and tested recipe.
It looks YUMMMMMMMY! going to try it for today evening!
Thanks Shilpa! 
it came out very yummy! 2 issues i had, it crumbles very easily and caramel solidifies as soon as i remove it from heat. how to avoid this?
Hi!
This was the first time I tried a random cake recipe from the net!
I substituted the dry fruits mix with currants, dates and walnuts.
Tasted awesome, but crumbled way too much!!
Still, a recipe to keep and experiment more on, so thank you!
Hi,
Very Nice Recipe. Today I tried it, Its so yummy. ThankYou So Much For Your Recipe.
How do I get fresh orange juice in this season???
:’(