This vegan fruit cake recipe is not your typical fruit cake! It’s moist, naturally sweet, and the perfect holiday cake!
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Fruit cake is one of those quintessential holiday recipes. It’s known for being dense and filled with either dried or candied fruit, nuts, and warm spices. Sometimes it’s soaked in liqueurs.
The very first known fruit cake recipe was made in ancient Rome. Soon after it became popular in countries across Europe, each one provided its own unique spin on the recipe.
Since many cakes are soaked in alcohol, they have been known to last for a long time! Maybe even years before going bad!
Here in the United States, the Christmas fruit cake has become somewhat of a holiday joke. It’s a bad gift that’s inedible due to its denseness and long shelf life.
Well, I’m here to tell you that it can be delicious and enjoyed by all at your holiday celebrations.
This vegan version is naturally sweetened with dry fruits. It’s loaded with warm spices and chopped walnuts. This is a fruit cake for people who think they don’t like it!
💗 Why You’ll Love This Vegan Fruit Cake
- Whole food plant-based ingredients
- Dried fruit (no candied fruit!)
- Suitable for ages (no alcohol added)
- Vegan and dairy-free
- Eggless Fruit Cake
- Perfect for the holiday season!
🥣 Ingredients and Notes
Dried Fruit: A combination of raisins, cherries, and cranberries is used in this recipe. However, feel free to use whatever dried fruit you like best or have on hand. Using chopped apricots or dried blueberries would make a nice substitute. Add a tablespoon of lemon zest or orange rind for a citrusy flavor.
Walnuts: It wouldn’t be a fruit cake without nuts. This recipe calls for chopped walnuts. You could also add chopped pecans or almonds if you prefer.
Spices: Cinnamon and nutmeg are added to give this cake warm flavors.
All-Purpose Flour: You could also use white whole wheat flour if you want to make this recipe healthier and high in fiber.
Organic Brown Sugar: This makes this cake sweet, but feel free to reduce the amount of sugar as the dried fruit provides quite a bit of sweetness as well. Alternatively, you can use coconut sugar if you’re looking for an unrefined option.
Vegan Buttermilk: A combination of 1 cup of soy milk or almond milk, and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or apple cider vinegar. Allow to sit and curdle for 10 minutes before adding to the batter.
Vegan Butter: My favorite vegan butter to use in baking is Earth Balance Vegan baking sticks. Instead of butter, you could use coconut oil.
📖 Variations and Substitutions
Change the Dried Fruit: Feel free to use apricots, blueberries, or currants instead of added fruits.
Soak the Fruit in Brandy: If you’d like to make this an authentic fruit cake with alcohol, soak the dried fruit in brandy overnight before adding it to the cake. Then, brush the finished cake with brandy on all sides.
Soak in Fruit Juice: If you’d like to make it moister but don’t want to add alcohol, you can soak the fruit in orange juice or apple juice.
👩🏻🍳 How to Make Vegan Fruit Cake
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray a 9-inch loaf pan with cooking spray and line the pan with parchment paper down the long side, leaving a few inches to hang over either side.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and baking powder.
- Add the room-temperature vegan butter to the large bowl with flour. Using an electric or stand mixer, beat together on medium-low speed for about a minute until the mixture resembles sand.
- Add the vegan buttermilk and vanilla extract. Beat on medium-high speed until combined.
- Fold in the fruit mixture of raisins, cranberries, cherries, and chopped walnuts by turning to low speed and incorporating throughout the batter or folding into the batter using a spatula.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared 9-inch pan. Smooth over the top.
- Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes clean. Allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then, transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before slicing.
📝 Expert Tips
- Fruit cake is dense by nature. This one is also dense with all of the added fruit. Since it is so dense, it does not spread much in the oven. Use a spatula to evenly spread the batter in the pan for an even bake.
- It may take more time to bake your cake in the oven. This will depend on the size of your cake pan. I recommend using a deep 9-inch loaf pan. Using a glass pan rather than a metal non-stick pan, you’ll want to reduce your heat by 25 degrees so the bottom doesn’t burn.
- Be sure to line the pan with parchment paper to allow the cake to release easily. Allow the cake to cool completely on a wire rack before adding icing or toppings.
🍽 Serving Suggestions
Serve with a cup of warm coffee or tea—dust with organic powdered sugar for decoration or a simple drizzle of icing sugar.
⚖️ Serving Size
This recipe makes 8-12 slices, depending on how thick you cut each slice.
🫙 Storage
Room Temperature: Store the cake at room temperature, wrap it in plastic wrap, and then wrap it in aluminum foil to retain moisture and keep it from drying out. Or place slices in an airtight container such as a cake tin. It will keep for 3-5 days at room temperature.
Refrigerator: After five days, transfer the cake to the refrigerator for another 2-3 days.
Freeze: Wrap the fruit cake in plastic wrap and then aluminum foil. Place in a freezer-safe bag with all air pushed out. Write the date. It will keep in the freezer for 2-3 months.
Defrost: When ready to enjoy the frozen fruit cake, let it defrost overnight at room temperature.
😋 More Vegan Holiday Recipes!
🎥 Video
Recipe
Vegan Fruit Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup vegan buttermilk 1 cup of unsweetened soy milk plus 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
- 1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 cup organic brown sugar
- 1 cup vegan butter
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup raisins
- ½ cup dried cherries
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- ⅓ cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare baking pan. Spray a 9 inch loaf pan with cooking spray. Line with parchment paper down the long side of the pan leaving a few inches to hang over either side.
- In a large electric/stand mixer combine the dry ingredients on low speed: flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and baking powder.
- Add the room temperature vegan butter to the bowl. Mix on medium-low speed for about a minute, until the mixture resembles sand.
- Add the vegan buttermilk, and vanilla extract. Mix on medium-high speed until combined.
- Fold in the raisins, cranberries, cherries, and chopped walnuts by turning to low speed, and incorporating throughout the batter.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared baking pan. Smooth over the top.
- Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before slicing.
Video
Notes
- Fruit cake is dense by nature. This one is also dense with all of the added fruit. Since it is so dense it does not spread very much in the oven. Use a spatula to evenly spread the batter in the pan for an even bake.
- It may take more time to bake your cake in the oven. This will depend on the size of your cake pan. I recommend using a deep 9-inch loaf pan. If you use a glass pan rather than a metal non-stick pan, you’ll want to reduce your heat by 25 degrees so that the bottom doesn’t burn.
- Be sure to line the pan with parchment paper to allow the cake to release easily. Allow the cake to cool completely on a wire rack before adding any additional icing or toppings.
- Store the cake at room temperature, wrapped in saran wrap, and then wrapped in aluminum foil to retain moisture and keep it from drying out. Or place slices in an airtight container. It will keep for 3-5 days at room temperature, 7 days in the fridge, or 2-3 months in the freezer.
Nathan Williams
I went to go slice it after it cooled and it just turned into a crumbly mess. 🙁 The fruit cake crumbles were enjoyable but I was hoping to have bread, not crumbles. I gave 3 stars because at least they tasted good!
Alison Corey
Sorry to hear it was crumbly. It’s possible to use too much flour if the flour is packed. That may have been the cause for the crumbly texture.
Yvonne
Can I use Bob’s Mill Gluten free flour as a replacement to all purpose?
Alison Corey
Yes, you could use Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free flour as a replacement.
danleep11
Hi, Alison…What a story, ie, being vegan yet living with a meat eating family! You have my sympathy but hopefully, they love you enough to fully support you on your dietary endeavor. I have done this once before with no good results. It was like being with a non-smoker and snuff user and then kissing him/her on the lips… Anyway, this recipe sound good and I will be trying it very soon. Wishing you well in all your endeavors. I am now 78 years old and being basically fruit vegan has been one of my greatest life decisions, back when I was 19.
Alison Corey
I have a very loving and accepting family. They are always willing to give my recipes a try. They’re my taste testers, so I know if they like it, others will likely enjoy it too! I hope you enjoy this vegan fruit cake recipe! It’s simple and quite moist and delicious!
Sara Welch
Decided to give this a try for an afternoon treat, and it does not disappoint! Exactly what I needed to cure my sweet tooth; it was delicious!
Sandhya
LOving this Vegan Fruit cake! Its been years I had some. Can’t wait to get baking!
Gina
Really love how jam packed this cake is with all those add-ins! Love how adaptable it is too based on what you have on hand. Great recipe to make over and over!
Heather Johnson
i’ve never actually had fruitcake until this – i made it for a friend and couldn’t help but try it myself too – and really liked it!