with Mary Anne Mohanraj
See, the plan was to see whether I could make a more autumnal variation on a Sri Lankan butter cake, while still staying with Sri Lankan flavors. Why? No reason. This is just how my brain works, people. You might as well go with it…
Candied orange, pistachio, and carrot.
Chopped pistachios in Sri Lankan butter cake batter. I do like nuts. Nutty nut nuts. 
(Hm, maybe I shouldn’t be typing this early…)
(30-60 minutes chopping time + 3 hr baking time + cooling time, serves dozens)
Americans are often scared of fruitcake. There’s a massive cultural myth that fruitcake is some horrid dry thing that gets pressed upon you by similarly dried-up aunts. But a real fruitcake, the kind that’s related to a traditional British steamed figgy pudding, is dense, rich, moist, fruity, and pleasantly alcoholic.
The chopping is labor-intensive (and would gum up a food processor), so I’d recommend having a few friends over to help and rewarding them with slabs of fruitcake to take home. (Note the long baking time, though!) Traditionally, you would use glacé cherries and other candied fruit, but Kevin doesn’t like them, so we stick to just dried fruit in ours.
Almond paste (optional)
1. Oil and flour a 9×12 cake pan or two 8×8 cake pans.
2. Chop dried fruit, mixed peel, and nuts finely. Combine fruits, nuts, and jam in large bowl, sprinkle with brandy, stir, cover, and leave while mixing cake. This can be done the day before, allowing the fruit more time to soak in the brandy.
3. Preheat oven to 275. In the biggest bowl you have, cream vegan butter or solid oil and sugar until light. Add very ripe bananas one at a time, beating well. Add grated rind, spices, and flavorings and mix well. Add semolina and beat until well combined, then mix in fruit (easiest done with your clean hand).
4. Whip aquafaba until stiff and, using a wooden spoon, gently fold (as best you can) through thick, stiff mixture. Turn into prepared cake pan(s), cover edges lightly in foil, and bake in 275F oven for 2.5 – 3 hours until cooked through in center—cover the cake with foil after the first hour to prevent over-browning.
5. Cool completely, preferably overnight, then remove paper and wrap cake in plastic wrap; if you like, you can sprinkle a few more tablespoons of brandy over the cold cake before wrapping it. Chill in refrigerator (or other cool place) for at least a month. Every week or so, you can unwrap it, add more brandy, and rewrap it, if you like that sort of thing.
6. Alternatively, ice the cake with almond paste and then cut the cake into small rectangles (about two fingers wide) and wrap each individually in wax paper and colored foil—this is the presentation we would use for weddings, where little girls would carry baskets of the cake around at the end of the wedding and give a little cake to each guest to take home.
Note: This cake can be kept in an airtight tin for a year or longer. It just gets better and better—I recommend making it no later than mid-November if you want to serve it at Christmas.
Adding crystallized ginger, mixing the beaten aquafaba (magic!) into the dough. Like the vegan love cake, it took quite a bit longer to bake this rich cake than it would for the non-vegan version — 3 solid hours in a slow oven. That must be due to different moisture levels; the final cake was also more moist that my standard rich cake.
I wonder if using, say 1-2 fewer ripe bananas would make a significant difference there? On the other hand, it’s rare for someone to complain that their fruitcake is TOO moist. So maybe just leave it as is.
Though if I do it again, I’m definitely going to wrap the edges in foil so they’re less likely to burn — over 3 hours needed to get the center cooked, the edges got a little overcooked. It might actually be better to do this in two square pans, instead of the large 9×12. (Or, sacrilege — two bundt pans?!)
Recipe here.
I promised you a vegan rich cake (fruitcake) recipe, and I finally have one ready. Walking you through some photos, then I’ll post the recipe. My first time cooking with vegan butter — it’s fine, but for cooking, I think I’m just as happy sticking with coconut oil.
Dough + ripe bananas, with aquafaba (chickpea water) beaten to accomplish the same thing egg whites would, giving airiness and lift to the batter and finished cake.
In goes a quarter cup of brandy — or in this case, Cointreau. I guess I’m just feeling orange-ish this year. Sometimes we do sherry. It’s all good. Now it’s all mixed together, covered, and left to soak overnight.
Will bake after work tomorrow…
Just one more ingredient for tonight’s prep — want to guess what it is?
