Indian-Style Eggless Christmas Plum Cake

Want to try a "no-fail" Christmas plum cake recipe? Try this Indian-style recipe, and you will be happy that you did it because it's very easy to bake and tastes great too!

Prep Time25

Cook Time50

Cooling Time20

Total Time1 35

Method: Baking

Course: Cakes

Servings: 12 Slices

Ingredients

½ cup candied peel aka tutti frutti
½ cup raisins
½ cup orange juice, preferably freshly squeezed

PART 2:

1 and ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 and ½ tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon allspice powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
⅛ teaspoon salt

PART 3:

½ cup unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup sweetened condensed milk (See My Notes)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

PART 4:

1 cup chopped walnuts
½ cup broken cashew nut pieces
4-6 tablespoons orange juice
as needed orange zest

Instructions

Soak the ingredients listed under Part 1 for at least 24 hours.
On the day of baking, preheat the oven to 350F/180C for 15 minutes. Lightly grease or line an 8"x4" loaf tin with parchment paper and set aside.
Sieve together the dry ingredients listed under Part 2 and set aside.
In a large bowl, beat the butter, condensed milk, and vanilla extract until light and creamy.
Stir in the sifted flour mixture into the creamed butter mixture and mix until no flour is left.
Now fold in the soaked fruit mixture, nuts, and orange zest mentioned in Part 4. Add orange juice little by little to get the desired batter consistency.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean.
Remove the pan from the oven and leave it on a wire rack to cool completely (about 20 mins). After a while, unmold the fruitcake from the pan.
If you plan to brush the loaf with sugar syrup, poke the bread with a fork or wooden skewer, brush it with simple sugar syrup, and leave it for 10-15 minutes before slicing the cake.

Notes

If you are ok with using rum, soak the fruits in rum instead of orange juice.
I have used allspice powder because it gives a similar taste and aroma to adding cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves separately. If you don't have that in hand, add half a teaspoon each of ground cinnamon and nutmeg.

Taste & Texture

This Indian-style Christmas plum cake brought back my childhood memories of having a fruitcake during Christmas time in India. What I liked most about this fruitcake was that it did not have the eggy flavor and aroma like the one we used to get in the bakeries in India.
The taste was perfect. Those with sweeter teeth than ours might need to increase the quantity of condensed milk or add some sugar while making this plum cake.

Nutrition