Fat, Sugar, Dairy, Egg, Nut, Gluten-Free Fruit Loaf Cake
A fruit loaf cake that is free of mostly everything except taste and plant-based nutrition and goodness.incredibly moist, sweet, and tastes just like a traditional fruit loaf cake.Enjoy a guilt-free slice with your favourite hot drink or chilled glass of oat milk.Delicious!
Equipment
- 1 kg/ 2Ib loaf pan plus baking parchment to line pan if required
- Saucepan to simmer dates and dried fruit
- grater/fruit rind zester
Ingredients
To stew the dried fruit:
- 500 millilitres water
- 500 grams dried mixed fruit use a dried fruit mix, or a combination of any you happen to have. Dried cranberries would be ideal for the festive season.
- 200 grams dates chopped and stones removed (if any)
To mix through dried fruit after stewing:
- 4 tablespoons fresh orange juice or apple juice, pineapple juice, etc
Rest of the cake:
- 170 grams gluten free plain flour I use the Doves Farm brand
- ¼ teaspoon xanthan gum Find this on Amazon or in your local health shop, it helps to prevent the cake from being too crumbly when its sliced.
- 3 teaspoons gluten-free baking powder
- 1 teaspoon mixed spice powder alternatively use pumpkin or apple pie spice mix
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves optional but tasty!
- 50 grams ground sunflower seeds or ground pumpkin seeds, if you can't have seeds you could try some gluten-free coconut or oat flour. If nuts are not a problem ground almonds work well.
- 1 whole orange rind grated or zested
- 4 tablespoons water
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 130 Fan/150 Celsius/300 Fahrenheit/Gas 2.
- Prepare your loaf pan by greasing with either oil or margarine, and lining the greased pan with baking parchment.
Stew the dried fruit and dates:
- Place the dried fruit along with the dates and 500mls/ 17 fl oz of water into a saucepan. Bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes.Decant the dried fruit mix to a bowl and allow to cool for 20-30 minutes. Give the mix a stir every now and again to release the heat faster.Add the orange juice and mix.
- To a mixing bowl add the flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, ground sunflower seeds, mixed spice, cinnamon and grated orange rind.Mix well.
- Add the dried fruit mix along with 4 tablespoons of water.
- Stir everything until combined.Spoon into a loaf or cake pan.Using a spoon or spatula level the cake surface.
Bake:
- Place the cake pan onto the bottom or close to the bottom rack of the oven.
- This loaf cake can take anywhere between 50-60 minutes to bake depending on your oven, possibly a few minutes longer. It takes about 55 minutes to bake in my fan oven.Check after 50 minutes and see if your cake looks firm, is coming away from the pan sides, and a skewer inserted comes out clean. If not bake for a further 5-10 minutes and then check again.
- Once baked, leave the loaf in the tin for about 20 minutes before tipping out and placing on a wire rack or chopping board to cool completely.
Notes
- Nutritional information is provided for guidance only and is not a strict calculation as ingredients vary.
- Vegan gluten-free fruit cake can be stored wrapped in greaseproof or parchment paper and a second layer of kitchen foil or placed in an airtight container, for up to 5 days. Possibly a few days longer if kept in a cool, dry area. I often wrap well and store in the fridge for up to 7 days.
- This fruit cake can also be stored in the freezer for up to 4-6 months. Wrap up the entire cake or individual slices. Remove the wrappings and defrost to room temperature before enjoying.
- Replace the orange juice with apple or even pineapple juice. I freshly squeezed my orange after I grated the rind for the cake. I managed to get all 4 tablespoons needed for the recipe from the one orange.
- Orange rind or zest can be subbed out for lemon, lime or grapefruit peel
- Any blend of dried fruit mix can be used in any quantities for this cake, as long as your chosen mix equals 500 grams / 17 ½ oz. Such as raisins, currents, sultanas, dried apricots, dried pineapple or papaya cubes, cranberries, goji berries, dried cherries, prunes, figs, etc. Or simply use an already prepared dried fruit mix. Although do add all the designated dates as they provide essential sweetness.
- Use all mixed spice mix, pumpkin spice or apple spice mix instead of the mixed spice and cinnamon
- Instead of ground sunflower seeds replace with ground pumpkin seeds. Or if nuts are fine for your family's diet use ground almonds or another nut. Alternatively replace with coconut, almond or oat flour (gluten-free varieties if necessary)
- Don't need the fruit cake to be gluten-free? Simply replace the gluten-free plain flour with plain/all-purpose, or wholemeal plain flour.
Nutrition
Calories: 347kcal | Carbohydrates: 78g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 12mg | Potassium: 824mg | Fiber: 10g | Sugar: 47g | Vitamin A: 31IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 190mg | Iron: 3mg