I know it’s really really lame to post an eggless fruit cake recipe right after Christmas and I wasn’t really meaning to do it. But then I realised I will have to wait a whole year and I was positive I would forget the recipe and my notes if I postponed this recipe that long so here goes.
I shared Omana Paul’s Plum Cake Recipe last year and quite a few people have tried it and shared feedback. However, as with any other cake recipe, I also got a ton of requests for an eggless plum cake recipe.
I don’t like slaving over anything in the kitchen and most of the recipes I saw online for eggless plum cakes were lengthy and required quite a lot of ingredients. So I decided to adapt what I thought looked good and make it simpler. I am super happy with the result although the top of my cake burned a little bit.
I should’ve covered the baking tray with some aluminium foil but I realised I was all out of foil and just had to leave the cake to its fate. It didn’t turn out too bad though, the slight bitterness added more character to the cake 😉
I baked mini loaves of these eggless plum cakes to give away and kept just 3 pieces for TH and I. I didn’t take step by step pictures either but will surely update it as soon as I bake these again. This recipe is loosely adapted from Food.com.
Check here for more Christmas recipes including no bake chocolate biscuit balls, chocolate crinkle cookies, tutti frutti cake, etc.
- 1.5 cups of all-purpose flour (maida)
- ½ cup of dark brown sugar (white sugar may also work but colour will be lighter)
- 1 cup of mixed dry fruits like raisins, sultanas, dates, cherries, tutti frutti, etc
- 2 tbsp of finely chopped cashew nuts
- 2 tsp of baking powder
- 1 tsp of baking soda
- 1 tsp of vanilla extract (or 1 tsp orange or lemon zest works better)
- 1 tsp of mixed spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, etc
- ½ cup of unsalted butter
- 2.5 tbsp of any neutral oil (like veg oil)
- A pinch of salt
- ⅔ cup water
- Pre-heat oven to 350F / 180C. Grease and line an 8" cake pan or muffin tray / mini loaf pan, whatever you prefer.
- Bring the water to boil in a pan and add the dry fruits (leave out the tutti frutti if using them) and the sugar.
- Simmer for about 7-10 mins until the dates have softened ,yet don't turn mushy.
- Turn off heat, remove the pan and set aside for 5 mins to cool slightly.
- Then, add the butter, vanilla (or citrus zest) and baking soda. The mixture will foam a bit, that's normal and fine.
- Set aside to cool.
- In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Add the spice powders and mix well to combine.
- To this, add the cashew nuts and tutti frutti, if using. You can also add some chopped glazed cherries at this stage if you'd like
- Add the cooled fruit mixture to the flour mixture and add the oil.
- Gently fold until the batter has no flour streaks left in in it.
- Pour into the prepared cake pan and bake in the pre-heated oven for about 50 mins.
- If the top seems to be cooking too quickly, loosely cover the cake tray with aluminium foil and leave a slit in the middle for air to escape.
- Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
- Cool completely before slicing and store in airtight containers.
Notes:
– this eggless plum cake is denser than your regular cakes so don’t expect light and fluffy. Think a moist, dense, and delicious fruit cake!
– you can add a tablespoon or two of rum or brandy to the cake and make it taste “better”.
– the cake is sweet on its own but if you want to frost it, reduce the amount of sugar in the cake batter.
– I got a few questions on the colour of the eggless fruit cake. Mine is a darker brown because I used very dark and moist brown sugar. Also, my dates were a dark colour as were the raisins (and I used a lot of raisins). These are the two reasons why I feel the colour of the cake may be affected. I should also probably add that the top of my cake burnt a little giving it that almost black colour. Usually the colour of fruit cake comes from caramelising sugar which we don’t do in this cake. You can definitely do that though, just follow steps in my Christmas fruit cake recipe.
For eggless fruit cake recipe in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Urdu, etc please use the Google translate button in the sidebar.
Hi, I followed the recipe to the T. I found it slightly less moist. Anything I can change to make it softer and moister ?
You can try adding more dates or another tablespoon of butter.
Hi Nags,
It turned out beautifully. I didn’t have brown sugar on hand, so had to use the regular one, and as the family expect cakes to be sweet, added 2/3 cup, but the cake came out brown on top, fluffy and moist inside. Definitely a keeper, thanks a lot, Looking forward to more eggless cake recipes,
Hi, would it be possible to make this using wholewheat flour? I understand it would probably turn out more like a sweet fruit bread instead of cake and I’m ok with that.
i haven’t tried it myself but definitely worth a shot
How minutes in paper mould
do you mean cupcake moulds? if so, reduce baking time by 15 minutes
Instead of water can we use orange juice for soaking the dey fruits?
sure!
Loved the recipe. Followed it to an inch. Only thing i felt was my sweetness content was slightly off, but the cake is moist and delicious. Would highly recommend!
Suggestion: instead of half cup brown sugar, i would go for atleast 2/3rd cup, esp if you have a sweet tooth like me!
I would give this recipe 5 stars!
Thank you! pls leave a rating next time 🙂
Hello there, I found that I could not pour the mixture into the bake dish, it had formed into a dough. Though overall it came out well, I used your tin foil tip so the burning was avoided.
Great recipe, but will really live to understand why the mixture became too thick
I made it for my daughter’s birthday party……and it was supper hit. I made it with chocolate. Grateful for recipe. No one trust it’s eggless.
Hi Nags, can I use rum soaked fruits in this cake and follow the same procedure of soaking with Rum once baked like we do for cakes with eggs?
sure!
How much would this 8 inch cake weigh? I’m trying to make a batch of 5 kilos so trying to understand.
i’ve never weighed this plum cake after baking it, sorry!
Can we make this cake in pressure cooker?kindly suggest.
yes you can try
i make this for every X’mas ….since last 4-5 years!!!! comes out very well..
a wonderful recipe !!!
i come 2 your space , every year…this time……………to brush up the recipe details 🙂
just looking for a tip … 1 cup is 200 ml or 250 ml ? wnt 2 make this year too for the x’mas season .
Merry Christmas…………Valli
my 1 cup = 240 ml. thanks valli!
Butter that u have used is salted or unsalted ??
How to get little darker colour for the cake ?
What is carmelisation used for n how to do ?
unsalted butter. the darker colour comes from using dark brown sugar and the dates and dry fruits. this recipe doesn’t require caramelisation. you can check the regular fruit cake recipe to check on how to caramelise sugar for fruit cakes.
Hi which shape tin should I use. Its not mentioned in the recipe. Thanks
round or square is fine. I have used a round tin as you can see from the shape of the cake
Many thanks as I tried this cake and it turned out super yummy, however, I did not get a nice deep brown color that you got on yours? What do you think might be missing?
Also, I now want to make this for a larger crowd and was planning on tripling the size – in that case, would all ingredients need to be 3X? Thanks again!
the colour really depends on the amount of caramelisation of the sugar; and yes, for making a larger cake you can double or triple the ingredients accordingly 🙂
I am not sure if cinnamon pwd makes a difference.. but mine was not nice brown like yours from inside. 🙁
Looks yumm! Neat layout too 🙂
It looks beautiful nags…You try reducing the heat of ur oven next time so that it doesnt burn on top…bake at 160 or so.I do that..:)
i have tried that shabs but feel the cake turns too dry. maybe i should try 170 🙂
Wow… Yummy cake…
http://recipe-excavator.blogspot.com
Happy New Year !!!
Looks yummy and inviting. Happy new year
Ah they look yummy! Happy New year Nags!
I love fruit cake a lot. I usually buy it from polar puffs and cakes and finish it alone. Haven't tried at home yet. Urs looks rich and delicious. 🙂
Love the rich dark colur of the Plum Cake, its a great recipe to try for my vegetarina freinds.
Wish you a Very Happy New Year!
Hai,
is 1 cup=200ml or 240/250 ml? can u specify?? 'coz…. in the orange cake post u have replied to one of the visitors as 1 cup measurement = 200ml. Is it same 4r this recipe too??
Wishing U a very Happy New Year…2013.
regards, Valli.
nice simpler version.. Bookmarked th
Nice egg-less fruit cake,book marked.
Thank you for posting the eggless recipe. Can't wait to try it!