Eggless Christmas Fruit Cake

Updated: June 25, 2024, By Swasthi

This Eggless Christmas Fruit Cake is moist, soft, light and delicious. It is vegetarian, alcohol-free and easy enough for beginners to bake. There are many kinds of fruit cakes made around the world for Christmas but this recipe is one of the quickest and easiest that anyone can bake with great success.

Most fruit cake recipes call for soaking the dried fruits in alcohol for several weeks to months. This instant recipe helps you bypass this step and does not require pre-soaking in advance. So I call it my BEST last minute Fruit Cake!

Indian Fruit Cake

Whether you want to gift this beautiful cake to your loved ones or want to serve it with your family and friends, I am sure everyone will love this. This can be served warm or cold as a dessert with mulled apple juice or a cup of milk or tea.

This can also be baked in advance and refrigerated for a week. You may reheat it in the oven or in a steamer for hot. I haven’t got a chance yet to store it longer because it finishes so fast. I guess it won’t keep good at room temperature longer than a day.

If this is your first attempt at an eggless cake, make sure you read all the steps and understand before trying out. I have the step by step instructions and also a video that’s going to help you understand the process better. Here is a little about the special ingredients you need for this Eggless Christmas Fruit Cake.

  • Dry fruits – I have used raisins, apricots, glace cherries and cranberries. Other dried fruits you can try is with dried dates, figs and other kind of berries. If you want to avoid artificial colors, omit the glace cherries or replace them with some dried cranberries as they add similar color to the fruit cake.
  • Chopped nuts – We use 100 grams of unsalted raw cashew nuts, almonds and walnuts. You can use these in any proportions. Make sure your walnuts are fresh and not rancid.
  • Citrus peels – These are usually labelled as candied peels are made with the peels of citrus fruits. You get a mix of orange, lemon and sometimes grapefruit. If you can’t find them you may use orange and lemon zest.
  • Spices – I use cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Sometimes I also add ¼ tsp all-spice for a stronger flavour. This recipe makes a subtly spiced cake so all-spice works well to our taste and preference.
  • Fruit juice – This recipe works with unsweetened orange juice or apple juice. It adds flavour and required acidity to the batter. I use freshly squeezed orange juice without pulp (strained). Store bought unsweetened juice should be alright.

Other Basic Ingredients

  • Flour – This cake can be made using all-purpose flour/ maida or whole wheat/ atta. Using wheat flour makes the cake slightly dense but still tastes very good. However if using wheat flour, sieve it well with the other dry ingredients at least thrice. This makes the cake lighter.
  • Fats – I have used unsalted melted butter this time but it also works well with oil. I had used several times extra virgin coconut oil and just loved it. Towards the end of this post, I have shared few pics of the same recipe made using wheat flour and oil which I had made few years ago.
  • Sugar – Use brown sugar for the perfect flavour. Though you can use regular sugar I felt brown sugar enhances the flavour and keeps the cake more moist.
  • Leavening agent – Baking soda or Soda-bi-carbonate is required in this recipe. Do not confuse with baking powder. Both are different.
  • Vinegar – You also need vinegar with 5% acidity or lemon juice. I use apple cider vinegar. Though I have made this fruit cake without vinegar a lot of times, I felt there is a difference in the rise if your juice is not sour enough. You may also have a little aftertaste if you omit this, so don’t.

More cake recipes you may like
No Egg Vanilla cake
Eggless chocolate cake
Eggless tutti frutti cake
Black forest cake (No eggs)
Eggless sponge cake
Eggless carrot cake

Photo Guide

How to make Eggless Christmas Fruit Cake (Stepwise Photos)

Preparation

1. Using a good spice blend to make the fruit cake is very important as it enhances the flavor. I have used homemade spice powder using cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. You can also use dry ginger powder if you prefer the aroma. Add the 3 ingredients to a spice jar and powder it finely. I have also added 1 tbsp of sugar to help the spices blend easily. Keep this aside.

2. Grease a 8 or 9 inch cake tray and dust it with flour. Instead of flour, you can also use a parchment paper to line the cake pan. You can also use a loaf pan. If using aluminum pan it is good to line the pan.

Grease a pan

3. These are the dry fruits and nuts I have used. I usually skip the glace cherries from this recipe and use mixed berries. If you prefer to avoid the artificial colors then just replace the glace cherries with dried cherries or berries.

You can also add more citrus peels if you prefer. But 20 grams was good enough for our taste buds. Preparing the fruits and nuts does take some time so it is good to prepare in advance.

dry fruits for eggless fruit cake

4. Add chopped raisins, citrus peels, cranberries and apricots to a large mixing bowl.

Add chopped raisins, citrus peels

5. Bring water to a boil and pour them over the dry fruits. Actually this is a boiled cake recipe where all the dried fruits are briefly boiled in water to soften the fruits. In the recent years I started to feel boiling them does affect the flavor of the fruits & cake so I prefer to just pour hot water to them.

pour hot water to dry fruits to make eggless fruit cake

6. Leave them to soak until the mixture turns cool or warm.

soak until the mixture turns cool

7. The fruits get soaked in the hot water and turn soft.

The fruits get soaked in the hot water

Make the Fruit Cake Batter

8. Add brown sugar to the mixture. The recipe works well with 150 to 200 grams of brown sugar depending on the kind of dried fruits used. If using dates 150 grams would be sufficient. I have used 1 cup packed i.e 200 grams. So use to suit your taste.

Add brown sugar

9. Add salt.

Add salt

10. Pour orange or apple juice. I used freshly squeezed unsweetened orange juice without pulp.

Pour orange juice

11. Add 1 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar. I have used organic apple cider vinegar. Avoid cheap vinegar as it can make the cake bitter.

organic apple cider vinegar

12. Add vanilla extract. You can also skip this since the flavors from the spice mix is good enough.

Add vanilla extract

13. Pour melted butter or oil.

Pour melted butter to make eggless fruit cake

14. Mix them all to dissolve the sugar. Set this aside.

dissolve the sugar

15. Preheat the oven to 340 F – 170 C for at least 15 mins.

16. Fluff up the flour in the jar and spoon it to the measuring cups. Level the cups with a spatula. Add it to a sieve placed over a mixing bowl. Then add soda.

add soda

17. Add the spice powder. Sieve them all together.

Add the spice powder

18. If using wheat flour, then repeat the process thrice. This makes the cake light and less denser.

wheat flour to make eggless fruit cake

19. The batter needs to go into the oven right after mixing the wet and dry ingredients. So make sure the oven is hot enough before you begin to mix the both. Stir the fruit mix well. Pour it to the flour.

Stir the fruit mix well

20. Mix the batter gently just until combined. Do not over mix. Add in the chopped cashews, almonds and cherries.

Add in the chopped cashews, almonds and cherries

21. Gently fold them in.

mix wet and dry ingredients for eggless fruit cake recipe

22. Pour it to the cake pan. Knock it gently to the kitchen top only twice. Do not over do as the nuts settle at the bottom.

Pour it to the cake pan

Bake Eggless Fruit Cake

23. Bake the cake for 35 to 40 mins if you have used a 8 inch pan. If using a 8½ by 4½ loaf pan, you will have to bake for 50 to 55 mins. Please do adjust the timing based on the size of your pan. When the cake is done, a tester inserted comes out clean.

Bake the cake

24. Cool the cake for 15 mins. Invert the cake on a wire cake.

Cool the cake

25. Cool the cake completely.

eggless fruit cake

Slice Eggless Christmas fruit cake once cooled completely.

Eggless Christmas Fruit Cake

Eggless Fruit cake made with wheat flour

eggless christmas fruit cake with wheat flour
eggless christmas fruit cake

Related Recipes

Recipe Card

Eggless Christmas Fruit cake

Eggless Christmas Fruit Cake

4.95 from 72 votes
Delicious eggless fruit cake that is soft, moist, delicious and doesn’t use alcohol. This cake is great to make for any occasion and is kids’ friendly as it has no alcohol.
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For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card

Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time40 minutes
Total Time1 hour
Servings8 inch cake or 8.5 *4.5 loaf
AuthorSwasthi

Ingredients (US cup = 240ml )

Dry fruits (150 grams, use any of your choice)

  • 40 grams raisins (4 tbsp chopped)
  • 30 grams apricots (3 tbsp chopped)
  • 60 grams glace cherries (6 tbsps chopped)
  • 20 grams cranberries (2 tbsps chopped)

Other ingredients for fruit cake

  • 20 grams citrus peels (2 tbsps chopped candied peels, more if desired)
  • ¾ cup hot water or 180 ml (3/4 cup + 1.5 tbsp or 200 ml if using atta)
  • ¼ tsp Salt
  • 1 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract
  • ¾ to 1 cup brown sugar (about 170 to 200 grams) or sugar
  • 1/3 cup oil or melted butter (about 80 ml)
  • 120 ml orange juice or apple juice
  • 100 grams nuts chopped (cashew nuts, walnuts, almonds)
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 ¾ cups wheat flour (atta or maida/ all-purpose flour, 210 grams)

Spices (or use spice extract or just skip)

  • 1.5 grams ceylon cinnamon or true cinnamon about 1/2 tsp ground
  • 8 cloves
  • nutmeg small piece or 1/3 tsp grated


Instructions

Preparation

  • Chop all dry fruits and nuts to small bits. Keep the nuts separately.
  • Add raisins, apricots, cranberries and citrus peels to a large mixing bowl.
  • Bring 3/4 cup water to a boil. If using whole wheat flour use 1.5 tbsps more. Pour the hot water over the dry fruits. Leave them aside to cool.
  • Add cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg to a mini spice jar. Make a fine powder. You can also add a tbsp of sugar to the spices to help them powder finely. Set this aside to cool.
  • When the mixture cools down, preheat the oven to 170 C for at least 15 mins.

Make eggless fruit cake

  • Add the brown sugar, melted butter, orange juice, vanilla and vinegar to the fruit mixture. Stir everything well.
  • In another mixing bowl, sieve together flour, salt, spice powder and soda. You can discard any coarse bits of spices.
  • Mix up the flour well once more and make a well in the center.
  • When the oven is hot enough and past 12 to 15 mins, then give the fruit mixture a good stir. Pour it to the flour all at once. Make sure the fruit mixture has cooled down before adding it to flour.
  • Mix gently with a spatula until you see no streaks of flour.
  • Add in cherries and chopped nuts. Gently give it a good stir. Do not over mix.
  • Pour this to a cake pan. Knock the pan twice to the kitchen counter. Don’t over do this as the nuts will settle at the bottom.
  • Keep it in the oven and bake at 340 F -170 C for 35 to 40 mins. If using a 8 inch pan it takes about 40 mins. If using a 9 inch pan it will be done around 32 to 34 mins. If baking in a loaf pan it takes about 50 to 55 mins.
  • When the cake is done, a skewer inserted comes out clean.
  • Cool the cake in the pan for 10 to 15 mins.
  • Invert it on a wire rack carefully. Cool it completely before slicing.
  • You can dust some powdered sugar over the eggless fruit cake.


Video

NUTRITION INFO (estimation only)

Nutrition Facts
Eggless Christmas Fruit Cake
Amount Per Serving
Calories 404 Calories from Fat 144
% Daily Value*
Fat 16g25%
Saturated Fat 1g6%
Sodium 242mg11%
Potassium 218mg6%
Carbohydrates 60g20%
Fiber 2g8%
Sugar 29g32%
Protein 5g10%
Vitamin A 100IU2%
Vitamin C 8.5mg10%
Calcium 38mg4%
Iron 2.1mg12%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Tried this recipe?Mention @SwasthisRecipes or tag #swasthisrecipes!

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About Swasthi

Iโ€™m Swasthi Shreekanth, the recipe developer, food photographer & food writer behind Swasthi’s Recipes. My aim is to help you cook great Indian food with my time-tested recipes. After 2 decades of experience in practical Indian cooking I started this blog to help people cook better & more often at home. Whether you are a novice or an experienced cook I am sure Swasthiโ€™s Recipes will assist you to enhance your cooking skills. More about me

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Recipe Rating




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5 stars
Cake was light and delicious.Thank you for your amazing recipes.

Ms Swathi,hope you are doing well.Just would express my sincere thanks for posting the receipe for eggless fruit cake.Could you kindly advise me on preparing 200 slices of the fruit cake please

5 stars
Loved it. I doubled the recipe and used 270gms chopped sultanas and 100gms chopped almonds. I used orange zest of 4 oranges, juice of 5 oranges n apple cider vinegar as well as extra virgin coconut oil. Spices were cinnamon cloves and ginger powder. Thank you Swasthi. This is a third time I am following your cake recipes for really special occasions!!

5 stars
I made this for the first time and it came out very good, perfect proportions, thank you so much. I used the readymade fruit mix from the store and it worked.

Can you please allow ne print this eggless cake?

I want to make your fruit cake, but I canโ€™t do oils. What substitute would work best? Thanks

5 stars
hi Swasthi
really happy to follow your recipes i have tried many & have got good results thanks a lot for such a nice & detaileds collection.
i just wanted to ask how many days does this cake can be kept fresh ? if we make it ahead of the event .

Hi can I use this recipe and make cupcakes instead

4 stars
I’ve tried this recipe and turned out well. Planning to again for a housewarming function. Thanks for the recipe

Followed the recipe to the T…. Skewer came out clean too. But when I tried getting the cake out, it was raw at the bottom… ๐Ÿ™ … Don’t know what I did wrong… Everything went to the trash bin…

5 stars
Thank you so much for sharing easy recipe. I love all your recipes as it has all small tips which needs to be taken care off.
I like to bake cakes for birthdays for my family members. But christmas cake for the first time. And it turned out really awesome. Everybody just loved it. I did little bit changes. I didnt added hot water instead i soaked dates, figs,blue berries , plum berries, black berries, raisins and appricots in 160ml fresh orange juice for overnight. Then i baked it. And it really taste more flavour full after 2days. And it tasted really superb even better then shop.
Than you.

Sharing this recipes with my loved ones. Just wanted to add that cooking time at 170degree in 8inch tin takes around 60mins.

Hello Swasthi, the mixed spice to be used for Fruit cake please can you tell me the proportion.

But where is the recipe card please???

Please send me the recipe for eggless Christmas cake.

Thanks

Thanks swasthi

5 stars
Hey I tried the cake with wheat flour and turned out to be a real winner with the family
family! They love it! Thank you for sharing it

What is citrus peel? I canโ€™t understand. Pls tell me maโ€™am

Thank you so much maโ€™am

4 stars
Amazing recipe. Thank you for posting. I have a question, as itโ€™s mentioned above 8โ€ round cake .. but what will be the weight of the final cake. Looking forward for reply . Thank you

You can add the weight of all the ingredients. The final.weight would be 5-10 percent less than the weight of the ingredients

5 stars
I prepared this cake, best recipe, it turned out awesome, thank you for this recipe and best part is you provided both atta and maida option, I tried cake with atta for first time and cake turned out awesome.

Only thing I did different is adding Vinegar just before putting in oven as I know that vinegar reacts and it is good to add to the mixture at the end.

No need to add baking powder? Baking soda will do?

5 stars
Absolutely fantastic! The taste was just amazing!

Hi Swasthi, thanks for your recipe of eggless Christmas cake . I just baked it and it came out so well . I did make few changes like I made cake flour by adding a couple of spoon of besan in AP flour and added fresh orange jest while mixing wet and dry ingredients .you had not mentioned when to add citrus peel.
However it is a great recipe and my cake is well appreciated.All thanks to you.
Best wishes

5 stars
Hi Swasthi
Thank you for sharing the recipes. Your recipes are very clear and detailed. Please tell me the shelf life of this cake .Is this measurement sufficient for 15 people. Please reply.

Hi Swasthi
Thank you for sharing good recipes.Your recipes are very detailed and clear. I just want to know the shelf life of this cake. Can I keep this cake in refrigerator. Please reply.