Christmas cake!

[fooldramaqueen]

I'm a rampant baker and am determined to make a fabulous Christmas cake this year - can anyone particularly recommend a tried & tested recipe? It doesn't have to be healthy or booze-free by any means, I just want to wow everyone with amazing food - this is one of my #1 tactics for promoting veganism amongst friends & family :D

Apologies if this has already been discussed, I'm still finding my way around :o

[fooldramaqueen]

(Sorry admins - a bit of a connection issue and now I have two threads :()

[vegcurry]

'Totally Dairy-Free Xmas Cake'
from Vegan Cooking For Everyone by Leah Leneman

This cake is best made several weeks before required and kept, well wrapped, in a cool place. Top with marzipan made from a mixture of ground almonds, soy flour, lemon juice, and almond extract; and ice with a white glace icing.



INGREDIENTS

1/3 cup / 3 oz / 85g soft vegetable fat
2/3 cup / 4 oz / 115g raw cane sugar
Juice of 2 small oranges
1 cup / 4 oz / 115g whole-wheat flour
1 tablespoon mixed spice
3 cups / 1 pound / 455g mixed dried fruit

METHOD

1 Beat the fat and sugar together.
2 Add the rest of the ingredients and mix thoroughly.
3 Bake in a cake pan lined with oiled wax paper for 3 hours in
a slow oven at 300°F / 150°C / Gas Mark 2.
4 Allow to cool completely before serving.

Mrs vegcurry made this last year, and again this year, and she amends the recipe to include dried apricots and sultanas instead of mixed fruit, and also adds ground almonds in place of some of the flour. A homemade marzipan goes down pretty well too.

It also gets fed lots of booze over the several weeks leading upto Solstice/xmess :)

[fooldramaqueen]

Vegcurry, that looks lovely thank you very much! And topping it up with booze leading up to Christmas sounds like a great idea to me!

I'll definitely think about making this one early-mid November time - hopefully it'll be nice & moist & at least 10% proof by Christmas dinner :)

[harpy]

I think it's been discussed but I can't find the thread so I'll (re-)post my mother's. I've never actually made it - why keep a bat and bark yourself? :o


VEGAN CHRISTMAS CAKE
Main equipment:
2 mixing bowls (one medium size, one large)
one 7½ (seven and a half) inch diameter circular baking tin
1 wooden spoon
sieve for flour/sugar
greaseproof paper
cooking foil
brown paper, string
airtight cake container

TIME SCHEDULE: ideally, allow at least 31-32 days before cake is to be
cut:
i.e.(i) put fruit to soak in brandy for 2-3 days before making cake
(ii) leave cooked cake to mature in container for 3 weeks
(iii) apply marzipan to cake and return it to container for 5 days
(iv) ice the cake and leave for 3 days before cutting

RECIPE
Cake:
6 oz vegan dairyfree margarine (for a drier texture this could be reduced
to 4 or 5 oz)
6 oz castor sugar
8oz self-raising flour
8oz sultanas (ready washed
8oz currants (ready washed)
2 oz raisins (ready washed)
2-3 oz natural-coloured glacé cherries, halved
3oz candied peel, chopped
4oz ground almonds
¼ (one quarter) teaspoonful mixed spice
1½ (one and a half) oz treacle
1 tablespoonful fine-peel marmalade (the peel cut smaller if necessary)
Pinch of salt

Preparation for cooking:
(1) Two-three days before cooking day, put the dried fruit in the medium
bowl, stir well, add two or three dessertsp of brandy. Leave for 2 -3
days, stirring occasionally and adding a spoonful or so of brandy as the
first lot is absorbed by the frui
.(2) On day of cooking, N.B. BEFORE starting to combine the ingredients,
line the cake tin with greased greaseproof paper and tie a
double-thickness brown paper collar round the baking tin, about an inch
higher than the tin itself, to guard against the cake scorching (but take
my advice and hover around during cooking time to check that the brown
paper collar doesn't start to smoulder in the oven).

Mixing:
(1) Using the wooden spoon and the large mixing bowl, combine the sugar
and fat to a creamy consistency.
(2) Sift the sieved flour (most of), salt, ground almonds and spice
gradually into the sugar and fat mixture in the large bowl, mixing as you
go, but stir an ounce or so of the sieved flour gently into the soaked
fruit to dry it a bit so that it doesn't sink.
(3) Stir the fruit gradually into the mixture, then lastly stir in the
treacle and the marmalade.
(4) Put the mixture into the cake tin, smoothing the surface to avoid a
peak forming tin the centre during cooking. Bake at a very low temperature
low in the oven for 3½ (three and a half) to 4 hours or so, according to
your oven, until the mixture is cooked through (when a fine knitting
needle inserted into the cake comes out slightly shiny but not wet). Allow
the cake to cool completely in the baking tin, overnight if necessary,
before removing it and storing it, wrapped in greaseproof paper + cooking
foil, in the air-tight container.
(5) After a week or so, remove the cake from the container and using a
clean, fine knitting needle make several holes in the cake and gently pour
into it 2 or 3 dessertsp of brandy, before rewrapping it and returning it
to the container. After (ideally) three weeks, apply the marzipan:

VEGAN MARZIPAN
8-10-12 oz ground almonds (according to how thick you want the marzipan to
be)
8-10-12 oz castor sugar
2 oz or so of vegan dairyfree margarine
1 tablespoon brandy
a little tepid previously boiled water, to moisten the mixture
To make the marzipan adhere to the cake: 2 dessertsp of apricot jam
(marmalade without the peel would do)

Mix the sieved marzipan ingredients together, working well with the hands
until it is smooth and mouldable but not wet.
Heat the jam/marmalade gently in a saucepan with some boiled water to
dilute it slightly, and then brush or spoon the warm jam mixture over the
top and sides of the cake.
Then spread the marzipan evenly over the cake, preferably a bit more
thickly over the top than over the sides.
Allow the cake to stand for an hour or so, then store as before, wrapped
in a layer of greaseproof paper followed by a layer of foil.

SOFT ICING
About 12 oz sieved icing sugar
a small piece of vegan dairyfree margarine
juice of half a lemon
2 drops of vanilla essence

Mix the ingredients together to obtain a stiff, not runny mixture, that
can be spread over the whole cake by hand and/or with a spatula (dipped in
hot water if necessary, and dried) to give a spiky or a smooth surface, as
required. Allow to dry. Then lower the cake, unwrapped but in a broad
sling of folded greaseproof paper for lifting purposes, into the airtight
container (apply flat Merry Christmas signs carefully at this point) and
leave ideally for 3 days before cutting.

[fooldramaqueen]

Wow, thank you! I quite like the idea of making my own marzipan, but looks like I'll need to have a designated baking weekend sometime in November :)

[harpy]

Apparently you're supposed to leave a few weeks between the cake and the marzipan+icing? You can buy vegan marzipan, can't you? Not sure why my mother doesn't, must ask her.

[fooldramaqueen]

Apparently you're supposed to leave a few weeks between the cake and the marzipan+icing? You can buy vegan marzipan, can't you? Not sure why my mother doesn't, must ask her.

I know I'll probably enjoy an inflated sense of achievement if I make my own marzipan, which I'm sure will be worth it :D

[littlemiss]

I make my own christmas puds, even done a batch of vegan gluten free one year and everyone loves them. They taste much better than shop bought and work out so much cheaper. I'm stocking up supplies now as I make a massive batch in one go as I steam mine so might as well make all that time and energy count. Have lots of fun! Your omni friends will love the cake.

[fooldramaqueen]

Thanks! :) I made a Christmas pud a couple of years back and I steamed it the old fashioned way (tea towel wrapped around, in a pan, top up the water, etc etc) and I'm sad to say I've been a bit too lazy to do it again :D

I'm staying with friends of my boyfriend's family this year (my first Xmas away from home infact) so I'd like to be able to offer them some yummy treats for daring to host a vegan!

[emmapresley]

^ i followed the recipe mr vegcurry posted above near the start of october and am nurturing it regulalry with liberal dousings of brandy. i've been very restrained but last week, nabbed a plump looking cherry off the top. shame on me. ;)

[Mr Flibble]

Harpy: recipe looks great. Has it been tried with veganised ingredients or is it a family recipe that has been adapted?

[Ms_Derious]

Apparently you're supposed to leave a few weeks between the cake and the marzipan+icing? You can buy vegan marzipan, can't you? Not sure why my mother doesn't, must ask her.

I think Tescos stuff is vegan :)

[harpy]

Sorry, have been away so not following threads, but my mother has been making these vegan cakes every year since I went vegan so that's at least 15 cakes, and she usually makes two or three so that's probably 40 trials :) As I told Mr Flibble separately, the recipe is in her head so it may not be written down 100% accurately but I would suspect it's 99% accurate.

Will have to choose the moment carefully to break the news about the vegan marzipan :D I don't think she minds making it though, she's a bit of a masochist.