Easy Vegan Christmas Cake

Preparation Notes

Allow extra time for cooling.

Ingredients

• 25g vegan margarine, for greasing
• 50g sultanas
• 50g raisins
• 50g currants
• 50g dried cranberries
• 130g hard vegan margarine
• 50g dark muscovado sugar
• 2 tbsp marmalade
• 3 tbsp black treacle
• 200ml cold water
• 110g white self-raising flour
• 3 tsp ground mixed spice
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 175g wholemeal self-raising flour
• 60g walnuts, chopped
• 60g pecans, chopped
• 100g glacé cherries, chopped
• 75g chopped candied orange peel
• 4 tbsp dark rum or orange juice
• 1 ½ tsp vanilla essence

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160⁰C/gas mark 3.
2. Grease a 2lb loaf tin with vegan margarine and line it with baking parchment. Set aside.
3. Put the sultanas, raisins, currants, cranberries, hard margarine, sugar, marmalade, treacle and water into a saucepan. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Set aside to cool completely.
4. Sieve the white flour, mixed spice and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl. Add in the wholemeal flour, walnuts and pecans. Mix all the ingredients together well.
5. Add in the simmered fruit along with the cherries, orange peel, rum (or orange juice) and vanilla essence. Gently fold the mixture together until well combined.
6. Transfer the cake batter to the prepared loaf tin and bake for 90 minutes in the centre of the oven.
7. Remove the cake from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes in the tin before gently turning out onto a wire rack to continue cooling. Once cool, decorate or leave plain according to taste. The cake will slice much more easily if left to cool in the lining paper overnight.
   
   Keep the cake in an airtight container until needed.