Festive fruit & nut flavours combine in this deliciously rich & moist Raw Vegan Fruit Cake. A fabulous alternative to traditional baked Christmas cake & so easy to make!
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I love Christmas and some of my favourite recipes are my Christmas ones. My Ultimate Vegan Christmas Pudding and my Vegan Brandy Butter are two of my favourite recipes ever and this Raw Vegan Christmas Cake is up there with them too.
I had been planning to make a traditional baked Christmas cake to share with you before the big day. Then a couple of months ago I was experimenting with a kind of festive Larabar type treat.
Ingredients were combined and left to set in the fridge and when I tried the finished bars I discovered that they tasted like Christmas cake. That was when I had the idea of attempting a Raw Fruit Cake based on the Larabar recipe I had been developing.
So this cake came about accidentally but let me assure you that it is a very good, very worth-making accident.
This Raw Vegan Fruit Cake is a delicious alternative to traditional baked Christmas cake. It is dense with dried fruit and nuts, rich, moist and has the most amazing soft, chewy and crunchy texture.
It is also really easy to make and completely fool proof.
And of course as it is raw there is absolutely no baking involved! Such a festive win!
This Raw Vegan Fruit Cake contains absolutely no flour, no eggs and no dairy which makes it vegan and safe for those who are dairy and gluten intolerant.
It also keeps for weeks if wrapped well and stored in the fridge. I love that aspect of it!
HOW TO MAKE RAW VEGAN FRUIT CAKE
FOR FULL & DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS PLEASE SEE THE RECIPE CARD AT THE END OF THIS POST
STEP 1
Blend up the maple syrup, coconut oil, dates, spices, vanilla bean powder, salt & almonds.
STEP 2
Spoon out and into a large bowl then add all of the other ingredients. Stir really well to combine.
STEP 3
Spoon into a lined cake pan and flatten down the top. I like to use a square 8 x 8 inch pan like this one:
USA Pan are always my first choice when it comes to bakeware and theya ren’t sponsoring this or anything. I just love their pans!
STEP 4
Cover and put in the fridge overnight or for about 12 hours.
STEP 5
Turn out, slice and dust with cocoa or powdered sugar before serving.
That’s it. So easy!
Everyone who has tried this Raw Vegan Fruit Cake raved about how good it is. Please don’t be put off by it being raw. None of my ready and willing testers even noticed and all of them went back for seconds…or thirds.
The list of ingredients is somewhat long but it is so easy to throw together and please feel free to sub any of the dried fruit for whatever you like or have on hand. You do however need to include the dates and I would strongly advise using the dried figs as they are a key ingredient. Without them the taste, texture and structure would suffer. The other dried fruits are very flexible as long as you end up using the same overall quantity.
This Raw Vegan Fruit Cake is:
- Easy
- Healthy
- Quick to make
- Festive
- Great for making ahead
- and loved by everyone!
I think that this is one of my favourite recipe creations so far and I am so excited to share it with you! Please let me know what you think in the comments below and tweet or Instagram me your pictures. I am @avirtualvegan on both. Use the hashtag #avirtualvegan on Instagram.
If you are looking for more festive recipes then be sure to check out the holiday section in my recipe index. You can find it here.
Raw Christmas Fruit Cake
Ingredients
- 360g | 2 packed cups medjool dates , weighed without pits, (See recipe notes)
- 200g | 1 cup coconut oil (unrefined or refined coconut oil is fine)
- 240g | 2 cups ground almonds , or almond meal
- 120mls | 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean powder (It may seem expensive to buy but a package lasts for a very long time as you do not need much. If however you would rather not use it or you can't find it, use 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract instead).
- 1 orange zest of
- 1 lemon zest of
- 30g | 1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
- 125g | 1 cup chopped pecans
- 115g | 3/4 cup chopped hazelnuts , or almonds
- 30g | 1/4 cup walnut pieces
- 150g | 1 cup raisins
- 150g | 1 cup dried cranberries
- 145g | 3/4 cup dried apricots , chopped
- 150g | 1 heaping cup dried chopped figs
Instructions
- Add the maple syrup, coconut oil, dates, spices, vanilla bean powder, salt & almonds to a food processor. or blender. Process until smooth.
- Spoon out into a large bowl.
- Pour all of the other ingredient into the bowl and mix well. This is quite hard work but it will come together.
- Line a tin with baking parchment. One that you would cook something like brownies in. I used my square USA Pan which is 8'x8'.
- Scrape the mixture into the tin and press down all over well.Use a spatula or the palm of your hand.
- Cover and put in the fridge for at least 12 hours.
- Remove from the pan and slice.
- Dust with powdered sugar or cocoa powder before serving.
Notes
Estimated nutrition per serving:
Long time vegan, creator of A Virtual Vegan & author of the book 
