Vegan Christmas Cake with Sugared Cranberries and Meringue
Indulge in the spirit of the season with our perfectly moist, rich, and flavoursome vegan Christmas cake. Bursting with luscious dried fruits, delightful nuts, and a harmonious blend of aromatic spices, this cruelty-free masterpiece is topped with a light and fluffy vegan meringue and candied cranberries.
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This vegan Christmas cake is unlike anything you’ve tried before. It’s fruity, satisfying and rich in flavour thanks to the cosy, warming spices used in the cake batter and a thick coating of snowy aquafaba meringue.
Although the vegan cake itself contains all the elements you’d expect from the traditional recipe with dates, sultanas and cranberries, the fluffy meringue finishes it off beautifully, helping to add sweetness and charm to the cake.
At the heart of this magnificent creation lies a blend of the finest vegan ingredients, carefully selected to ensure a moist and flavoursome bake. Plump, succulent dried fruits, including raisins, cranberries, and sultanas, lend their natural sweetness, while orange juice adds a zesty twist. For texture, walnuts bring a delightful crunch, infusing every bite with festive cheer.
A sprinkling of sugared cranberries with an enticingly icy finish are the final flourish of this spectacular vegan Christmas cake recipe.
How to make vegan Christmas cake
Much like the classic recipes, you’ll need to prepare the cake ahead of time as some elements need to set before serving.
The vegan cake recipe is easy to make as all of the elements are combined in one bowl before baking in the oven for an hour.
While you wait for the cake to cool, it’s time to make your vegan aquafaba meringue icing.
Once this has reached a meringue-like consistency, you will apply a thin layer to crumb coat the cake. You’ll need to leave this to set for an hour before applying the remaining vegan meringue in a thick, even layer.
Next, you’ll make the sugar coating for the candied cranberries by melting sugar and water in a saucepan until the sugar dissolves.
Then, add the cranberries to the pan to coat them in the mixture before removing them and dusting them with granulated sugar to give them their frosty finish.
Now it’s time to wait for the meringue and cranberries to set overnight before serving. We promise it’s worth the wait!
With its dense crumb and wonderful texture, Christmas dinner isn’t over until you’ve had a slice of this vegan Christmas cake.
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings: 6
Rating:
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings: 6
Ingredients
Method
Ingredients
(Servings: 6)
- For the vegan Christmas cake:
- 33.333333333333 33.333333333333 g chopped dates
- 41.666666666667 41.666666666667 ml water
- 25 25 g raisins
- 25 25 g sultanas
- 12.5 12.5 g chopped walnuts
- 12.5 12.5 g cranberries
- 0.16666666666667 0.16666666666667 tsp cinnamon
- 0.083333333333333 0.083333333333333 tsp all spice
- 0.041666666666667 0.041666666666667 tsp nutmeg
- 0.041666666666667 0.041666666666667 tsp ground cloves
- 25 25 g ground almonds
- 25 25 g rice flour
- 0.16666666666667 0.16666666666667 Tbsp + 2 tsp gluten free baking powder
- 25 25 ml orange juice
- For the icing and decorations:
- 0.16666666666667 0.16666666666667 tin chickpeas (reserve the water or aquafaba)
- 83.333333333333 83.333333333333 g icing sugar (sifted)
- 0.16666666666667 0.16666666666667 Tbsp lemon juice
- 0.16666666666667 0.16666666666667 tsp vegetarian glycerine
- 0.16666666666667 0.16666666666667 tsp vanilla extract
- 10 10 ml water
- 16.666666666667 16.666666666667 g caster sugar
- 0.16666666666667 0.16666666666667 cup cranberries
- 0.5 0.5 Tbsp granulated sugar
Method
For the vegan Christmas cake:
- Preheat the oven to 180C.
- In a saucepan, bring the dates to the boil with the water and simmer gently for 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, add the raisins, sultanas, walnuts, cranberries and mix through all the spices. Stir through the ground almonds, rice flour and baking powder.
- Once the dates have softened down, add them to the mixing bowl along with the orange juice, and combine until everything is mixed together.
- Grease a 7inch cake tin and line the bottom with greaseproof paper. Pour in the cake mixture and spread evenly. Wrap the tin with baking paper so the edges don’t burn and bake in the oven for 1 hour until a skewer comes out clean.
- Leave the cake to cool in the tin before turning it out onto a wire rack.
For the icing:
- In a bowl, whisk the aquafaba until frothy, add the icing sugar a tablespoon at a time until it has a meringue like consistency. Add the lemon juice, glycerine and vanilla extract and stir through.
- Spread a crumb coating over the cake, and ensure it is even. Leave to set for an hour before covering with a thick layer.
- Leave to set overnight.
For the sugared cranberries:
- In a saucepan, melt the caster sugar in the water over a low heat until all the sugar has dissolved.
- In a bowl, cover the cranberries in the sugar syrup, drain the excess sugar syrup and leave until tacky, sprinkle over half of the granulated sugar and leave to set in the fridge for a couple of hours, turn them over and sprinkle with the rest of the granulated sugar. Leave overnight.
- The next day, the icing will be firm enough to allow you to decorate with the sugar coated cranberries.
Fancy trying something new this Christmas?
Why not make this incredible Vegan Gingerbread Christmas Trifle!
