Vegan Christmas Cake

Ingredients
For the boozy fruit:
150g sultanas
150g raisins
100g currants
100g dates
35g chopped mixed peel
65g glacé cherries, chopped
90ml brandy

For the cake:
250g wholegrain spelt flour
100g white spelt flour
175g vegan marg
175g light muscovado sugar
1 tsp mixed spice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
50g almonds, chopped
1 tbsp treacle
grated zest of an orange
2 tbsp ground almonds
120ml soya milk
2 tbsps red wine vinegar
¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda
Brandy/Port for feeding

As with my standard christmas cake recipe, soak the fruit for at least a day before you start baking the cake. Weigh out the sultanas, raisins, currants, dates, peel and cherries into a bowl or food storage box and douse with the brandy, stirring to ensure the fruit is evenly coated. Set aside overnight or for up to a week, stirring daily.

Preheat oven to 140˚C and grease an 8”/20cm round cake tin or 8×5″ rectangular tin and line with a double layer of greased greaseproof paper

Sieve the flour and spice into a large bowl and rub in the marg until the mix is like breadcrumbs

Stir in the flaked almonds, ground almonds, sugar, orange zest, treacle and brandy soaked fruit, mixing well to combine.

Warm half the soya milk in a small pot and add the vinegar.

Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in the rest of the soya milk, then add this to the milk and vinegar mix over the bowl of flour and fruit as it will bubble up when the two lots of milk meet. Stir well to combine.

Spoon mix into greased tin and smooth the top and bake for 2-3 hours, until a skewer/cocktail stick comes out clean.

Leave cake in tin to cool, then turn out and peel off greaseproof and prick the cake with a cocktail stick and feed with some more of the brandy.

Wrap cake in greaseproof and store in a tin and feed with more brandy at weekly intervals until ready to ice and decorate.

Will keep for 6-8 weeks.