This Gluten-Free Vegan Fruit Cake is seriously moist, beautifully fragrant and not overly sweet! It's honestly undetectably vegan and gluten-free and has an almost melt-in-your-mouth texture reminiscent of stollen. Unlike a lot of other gluten-free cakes, this one definitely doesn't dry out quickly, as the fruit keeps it moist for a long time and the flavour actually improves over time. This means it's perfect for Christmas, gifting, or making in advance when entertaining guests.
Commonly used alcohol types are rum, brandy or sherry, but you can use any alcohol you like.
If you need this recipe to be gluten-free, make sure to check that the alcohol you use is gluten-free.
If you need it to be vegan, you can use the website barnivore.com to make sure that your alcohol is vegan.
Fruit Cake traditionally contains alcohol as the dried fruits are soaked in alcohol before being added to the cake batter. To make alcohol-free fruit cake, you can replace the alcohol by soaking the dried fruit in orange juice or apple juice instead.
Yes - you can do this by placing the dried fruit and alcohol (or juice) mixture in a microwave-safe bowl, cover with a microwave-safe plate and microwave for 1 - 1 ½ minutes. Then leave to soak for 30 minutes.
How to make this recipe
Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe.
- Place chopped dried fruits, walnuts and spices in a bowl and add sherry/brandy until covered.
Tip: Leave to soak in the fridge for at least 24 hours.
- Mix together all the ingredients in a glass mixing bowl, using a measuring jug to measure out the plant-based milk.
- Transfer the batter to a one-pound loaf tin.
Tip: Make sure to line the loaf tin with greased baking paper - this will make removing the bread from the tin so much easier!
- Sprinkle over flaked almonds to decorate, if desired.
- Bake in the oven for 45 minutes.
- Remove from the loaf tin and leave to cool on a cooling rack before slicing.
How long does this Fruit Cake keep for?
This Fruit Cake keeps covered in the fridge for a few days.
Substitutions you can make
- You can use any type of dried fruit: I used a mixture of dates, cranberries, dried figs, prunes and dried apricots, but you can also use raisins, sultanas, sour cherries, mango, papaya or pineapple.
- You can replace the alcohol with orange juice or apple juice.
- You can replace the chopped walnuts with pecan nuts.
- You can use any type of oil: coconut oil, olive oil or vegetable oil.
- You can use any type of plant-based milk: almond milk, rice milk, soy milk, cashew milk, oat milk etc.
- You can replace the ground almonds with ground walnuts.
- For a nut-free version: replace the ground walnuts with ground sunflower seeds and use a nut-free plant-based milk.
- You can use plain flour, wholemeal (whole wheat) flour or spelt flour instead of the gluten-free flour if you're not gluten-free.
- This is definitely not as sweet as a traditional fruit cake. If you prefer a sweeter cake, add 4 tablespoons of sweetener of choice, such as maple syrup.
More fruity vegan desserts
- Cherry Bakewell Cake
- Blueberry Pie
- Apple Cake
- Fig Upside Down Cake
- Chocolate Orange Cake
- Raspberry Dark Chocolate Blondies
If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I'd really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo @rhiansrecipes #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.
Watch how to make this recipe
Gluten-Free Vegan Fruit Cake
Ingredients
- 300 g (1 ½ cup) dried fruit , finely chopped (I used a mixture of dates, dried cranberries, dried figs, prunes and dried apricots, but you can use whatever dried fruit mix you like)
- 1 tablespoon unwaxed orange zest (or sub 1 teaspoon orange extract)
- 50 g (½ cup) walnuts , finely chopped (or sub pecan nuts)
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon mixed spice (or sub a mixture of nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves)
- Generous amount brandy or sherry (ensure vegan/gluten-free if necessary - or sub apple or orange juice)
- 60 g (¼ cup) coconut oil (or sub olive or vegetable oil)
- 200 ml (⅘ cup) unsweetened almond milk (or any other plant-based milk)
- 4 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch salt
- 150 g (1 ¼ cup) ground almonds (almond meal) *
- 150 g (1 ¼ cup) gluten-free flour blend (or sub plain flour if not gluten-free)
- 2 heaped teaspoons baking powder (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
To decorate (optional):
- Flaked almonds
Instructions
- Place the dried fruit, orange zest, walnuts, ginger, cinnamon and mixed spice in a bowl and add a generous amount of brandy or sherry, until everything is roughly covered.
- Keep covered in the fridge for around 24 hours, to allow the flavours to develop.
- Before making the cake, preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
- Place the coconut oil in a large bowl and melt over a saucepan of boiling water or in the microwave (skip this step if using any other oil).
- Once melted, add the milk to the same bowl along with the maple syrup, lemon juice, vanilla, salt and ground almonds.
- Sift in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.
- Add the dried fruit mixture (along with any residual brandy), adding a tiny splash more milk if it's looking too dry.
- Transfer mixture into a loaf tin lined with greased baking paper (I used a one-pound loaf tin).
- Scatter over flaked almonds before baking, if desired.
- Bake in oven for 45 minutes until risen and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
- Keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days.
Video
Notes
- This is definitely not as sweet as a traditional fruit cake. If you prefer a sweeter cake, add 4 tablespoons of sweetener of choice, such as maple syrup.
- You can also make this without soaking the dried fruit a day in advance - place the dried fruit and alcohol (or juice) mixture in a microwave-safe bowl, cover with a microwave-safe plate and microwave for 1 - 1 ½ minutes. Then leave to soak for 30 minutes.
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Katia
I tried this a couple of versions of this and found that the cake would crumble apart. Gluten-free and vegan is a little tricky because it tends to be crumbly and not moist and chewy. I was able to get around this by using agar agar. It worked great and became moist and chewy.
Rhian Williams
Thank you for your feedback!
Sharon
Hi Katia,
Can you please share how much agar-agar included in cake to make it moist and not crumbly?
Thanks
Sharon
Lydia Brown
Hi, I love this recipe but I was wondering how I can stop making it so crumbly?
Rhian Williams
Sorry to hear that! It shouldn't be crumbly! What type of gluten-free flour are you using?
Sara Colquhoun
How big is your one pound loaf tin? They seem to come in different sizes. I found one in a local shop, that said that it was a 1 pound loaf tin, that was 15cm x 9cm x 5cm, which is very small. I think that your one is bigger. Could you give the dimensions of your 1 pound loaf tin?
Rhian Williams
The loaf tin I used is width 11 cm (4 1/2 inch), length 21.5 cm (8 1/2 inch) and height 6 cm (2 1/2 inch).
Nancy
Is there any substitute for the oil? Maybe applesauce, flax egg or something? I’m oil free. Thanks!
Rhian Williams
A few tablespoons applesauce works!
Carol
what I dont understand in this recipes is if we have to put both flours:
▢ 150 g (1 ¼ cup) ground almonds (almond meal) *
▢ 150 g (1 ¼ cup) gluten-free flour blend
in most of the recipes when I put both of them I get a very dry dough....
Rhian Williams
They're both needed as if you use 100% gluten-free flour the texture becomes too dry and gummy. There is a lot of liquid in this recipe so it won't become too dry.