Recipe and image by Julie Le Clerc
This dairy-free fruitcake has wonderful flavour and is extra moist due to the use of oil instead of butter. The oil also gives the cake good texture which means, unlike classic fruitcakes, it cuts well, even when freshly made, making this a good last-minute option if you didn’t manage to bake a cake in October. I sometimes make two small cakes, which are a nice size for gifting.
½ cup orange juice
½ cup dry sherry (or more orange juice if you prefer an alcohol-free cake)
¾ cup sunflower or grapeseed oil
1 kg mixed dried fruit (I like to use equal quantities of raisins, sultanas and currants)
¾ cup firmly packed soft brown sugar
2 tbsp treacle
½ tsp baking soda
finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
4 large eggs, lightly beaten with ½ tsp salt
2 cups plain flour, sifted
1 tsp cocoa powder, sifted
1 tbsp mixed spice
70g whole raw almonds, to decorate
Preheat oven to 150°C conventional (130°C fan bake). Grease an 18-cm square cake tin (or two 13-cm square tins), and line the base and sides with a double thickness of baking paper. The paper should come up higher than the sides of the tin. Wrap a layer of brown paper around the outside of the cake tin to protect the cake from over-browning and drying out during the long baking time. Tie in place with kitchen twine.
Put the orange juice, sherry, oil, dried fruit, brown sugar and treacle in a saucepan. Bring mixture to the boil then turn down the heat and simmer very gently for 10 minutes, stirring often, so the fruit softens. Remove pan from the heat and stir in the baking soda. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
Stir in the lemon zest and juice and the beaten eggs to combine. Sift flour, cocoa and mixed spice over the mixture and stir to combine. Spread mixture into prepared cake tin and smooth the surface. Arrange almonds on the surface of the cake.
Bake large cake for 3 hours (smaller cakes for 2 hours), or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin. This cake will last well for 3–4 weeks if stored in an airtight container in a cool place.