Nov 23rd, 2016

Author: donich_admin

Vegan Christmas Cake

I made a vegan Christmas cake for my sister-in-law V last year and it did not turn out well (in fact that was the theme with all my Christmas cakes last year). I can’t remember what recipe I used, but it came from one of those rather dismal vegan sites which start off by soaking the fruit in water, and end up with a load of chemical sounding ingredients I’ve never heard of (and missed out which is probably why the recipe failed so badly). Anyway, it scarcely rose at all and got badly burnt (theme) – V said she liked it but I didn’t believe her.

Anyway, with a bit more vegan cooking experience I have had another go this year. I used Mary Berry’s recipe (same one I used for my own cake), but instead of eggs I used Orgran “No Egg”. This is a white powder you mix with water and whisk up before adding it to recipes instead of eggs. It wouldn’t be something I’d smile on myself as it is packed with chemicals and I had to laugh at the description on the packet where it said “Can not be used to make fried eggs”. I also swapped out the plain flour in the recipe with SR to give it an extra bit of lift – but apart from that exactly the same recipe.

The mixture looked exactly like the ordinary one when I put it in the tin – and miracle of miracles it has risen and I didn’t burn it. It looks lovely and moist and smells lovely. The proof of the pudding (ha, ha) will be when we try it – but I would imagine that any nasty taste residue from all the raising agents will be thoroughly masked by the fruit, spice and of course brandy.