Bulgarian Style Vegan Fruit Cake Recipes

VEGAN FRUIT LOAF CAKE

Steps:

• Place the dried fruit, margarine, sugar, and milk in a saucepan. Over a medium heat bring to the boil, stirring frequently.
• Lower the heat and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat but leave the saucepan on the cooker for another 5 minutes.
• Take your saucepan of the heat and leave to cool for 20 minutes.Mix though the apple sauce.
• Preheat the oven to 150 Fan/170 Celsius/ Gas mark 3/ 300 Fahrenheit. Prepare your loaf pan or baking tin by lightly greasing and lining with baking paper.
• Sieve the flour and spices into a mixing bowl.Scoop the dried fruit mixture into the flour.Stir until just combined.
• Spoon the cake batter into your loaf pan. Level down the surface.
• Place on the middle shelf of your oven and bake for 50-60 minutes. [Depending on your oven the cake may take another 10 minutes or so]. Check after 45 minutes to see how its going. My cake was baked after 50 minutes using an electric oven.Cake will be ready when it is golden brown and a skewer or knife poked through into the loaf comes out clean.
• Cool the cake within the loaf tin for at least 20-30 minutes. Gently tip the cake out and peal the baking paper off. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

VEGAN FRUITCAKE RECIPE

Steps:

• Place the star anise pods and the whole cloves in a small pouch of cheesecloth so you can easily pull them out of the mixture later.
• Cut all the dried fruits and the pear to the same size as the raisins and cranberries and in a medium bowl, pour the rum over top.
• Let it macerate overnight at room temperature (Or to speed the process microwave for 1 minute to reconstitute) and then let it sit for 3 hours
• Chop the nuts to same size, but reserve aside for last.
• In a large sauce pot combine the macerated fruits, the zest, grated ginger, spices, sugar, applesauce and vegan butter and bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes on low heat.
• Let it cool for about 15 minutes, remove the sack of whole spices (anise pods and cloves) and discard then add the nuts and the sifted flour, egg replacer, baking soda and powder .
• Pour the batter into a greased 9" x 5" loaf pan or if you are using the mini loaf pan like me, you will only get 6, be sure to fill the batter almost to the top (about ¾ full) for whatever size [an you are using.
• Bake in a preheated 375°F oven for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350°F for another 10 minutes for the MINI LOAFS for a total bake time of 20-25 minutes.
• The large standard loaf will take 35-40 minutes total bake time.
• Cool in the pan until you can touch the pan without burning yourself and then flip out onto a wire rack to cool the rest of the way.
• While still warm, brush with additional rum *Optional see notes above the recipe section
• Cool completely then wrap well and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks
• Sprinkle loaves with confectioners sugar or ice with optional buttercream and additional fruit compote as shown in the picture

VEGAN FRUIT CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare baking pan. Spray a 9 inch loaf pan with cooking spray. Line with parchment paper down the long side of the pan leaving a few inches to hang over either side.
• In a large electric/stand mixer combine the dry ingredients on low speed: flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and baking powder.
• Add the room temperature vegan butter to the bowl. Mix on medium-low speed for about a minute, until the mixture resembles sand.
• Add the vegan buttermilk, and vanilla extract. Mix on medium-high speed until combined.
• Fold in the raisins, cranberries, cherries, and chopped walnuts by turning to low speed, and incorporating throughout the batter.
• Transfer the batter to the prepared baking pan. Smooth over the top.
• Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
• Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before slicing.

BULGARIAN-STYLE VEGAN FRUIT CAKE

Steps:

• Butter a cake tin (preferably a non-stick one) and then flour well on top of the butter. Preheat the oven to 200'C (400'F). If possible, set your oven to heat from the bottom only.
• Take a large mixing bowl. If using eggs, crack them and whisk together yolks and whites.
• Add the sugar or honey, and blend well into a smooth paste.
• Add the yoghurt, baking soda, vanilla essence, cinnamon and margarine (or butter) and mix well until smooth.
• In a separate bowl, mix the flour and baking powder very well.
• Add flour mixture slowly to the yoghurt mixture, mixing all the time, until the mixture is smooth, neither dense nor light. It is right when it ripples on the surface as you mix.
• Add in the grated peels, the nuts and the dried fruits, and pour into the cake tin. The baking powder will be active and producing gas by this point, so you need to work quite quickly and minimize disturbance of the mixture to avoid losing it all.
• Cover the cake with aluminium foil and bake for 30-40 minutes, or longer if you dare. Do not open the oven during this time! The cake will collapse if the temperature changes before it has set.
• Remove the foil and continue to bake until a toothpick or wooden stick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
• Turn the cake out onto a wire rack, allow it to cool for about half an hour, and serve.

BULGARIAN YOGURT CAKE

Steps:

• Cream butter in large bowl.
• Add sugar.
• Beat with mixer until creamy and light.
• Add eggs one at a time, then lemon rind. Beat again. Stir in yogurt.
• Stir flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into yogurt mixture. Beat until smooth.
• Pour into greased cake pan 9" square. Bake at 350 F for 35 minutes or until toothpick tests done.
• Cool for five minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve warm.