Vegan Christmas Cake 3 Ways

The BEST Vegan Christmas Cake 3 Ways 🎄🧁

TADAA! Presenting a Chocolate Orange – Cherry Almond and Caramel Apple cakes, all decorated with the fluffiest buttercream and marzipan - who wants a slice?

🍒Cherry Almond – with glace cherries and flaked almonds 

🍫Chocolate Orange – with chocolate chips and extra orange zest 

🍏Caramel Apple – with fresh apple, sticky cinnamon apples and caramel sauce

 

Equipment

Zester

Wooden spoon

Mixing bowl

4" Cake tins

Piping set

Makes three 4-inch cakes

Time: 20 minutes prep + 50 minutes baking

 

Ingredients:

2 oranges, divided

3 tbsp chia seeds + 6 tbsp water

450g mixed dried fruits

75ml orange juice (or brandy)

150g vegan butter, cubed

150g light brown sugar

150g plain or GF plain flour

75g ground almonds

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp mixed spice

¼ tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla essence

250g vegan marzipan

 

For the Chocolate Orange Cake:

30g chocolate chips

20g walnuts, chopped

80g chocolate spread, warmed so it’s runnier

Extra orange zest

 

For the Cherry Almond Cake:

30g glace cherries, chopped

30g flaked almonds, plus extra

2 tbsp cherry or other jam

5 fresh cherries

Cinnamon, to sprinkle

 

For the Caramel Apple Cake:

30g dates, chopped

20g pecans, chopped

1 small apple, divided

2 tbsp caramel sauce

1 tsp vegan butter

1 tsp light brown sugar

1 tsp maple syrup

¼ tsp cinnamon

 

For the Buttercream:

75g vegan butter, softened

225g icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 tbsp aquafaba or plant-based milk

 

Method:

1. Zest and oranges and save ¼ for later. Stir together the chia seeds and water to form a gel.
2. Add the dried fruits, orange juice, ¾ of the orange zest, vegan butter and light brown sugar to a saucepan and stir. Allow the butter and sugar to melt and bring to the boil. Allow the mix to simmer over a medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring often, until thick and glossy. Keep to one side.
3. Preheat the oven to 130Fan/150C and grease and line three 4-inch cake tins with parchment paper.
4. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, ground almonds, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, mixed spice and salt. Now pour in the chia seed gel, vanilla and the sticky fruit mix. Stir to a thick batter with no specks of flour.
5. Divide the mixture into three equal portions and place into separate bowls.
6. For the Chocolate Orange cake, stir in the rest of the orange zest, the chocolate chips and the walnuts.
7. For the Cherry Almond cake, stir in the glace cherries and flaked almonds.
8. For the Caramel Apple cake, stir in the chopped dates and pecans. Chop the apple very small and add half (save half for the topping).
9. Pour each batter into separate cake tins and smooth over the top. Bake for 20 minutes then cover with foil, turn down the oven to 120Fan/140C and bake for another 45 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean (if only cooking one tin at a time, they may take around 30 minutes once the oven has been turned down). The Caramel Apple cake may take 5-10 minutes longer.
10. Allow the cakes to cool for 10 minutes then carefully remove from the tins and allow to cool fully.
11. Ahead of time, prepare the caramel apples: add the vegan butter, ½ chopped apple, light brown sugar, maple syrup and cinnamon to a saucepan and fry off for 10 minutes over a medium-high heat until bubbly and sticky. Allow to cool.
12. Lightly dust a worksurface with icing sugar and roll out the marzipan to about ½ cm thickness. You may need to re-roll it to cover all three cakes.
13. Make the buttercream by beating the butter until smooth then gradually beating in the icing sugar, vanilla and aquafaba or plant-based milk. Use an electric whisk or freestanding mixer for best results and continue to beat until fluffy and airy.
14. For the Chocolate Orange cake: spread 20g of the chocolate spread over the cake and cover with 1/3 of the marzipan. Smother with roughly ¼ of the buttercream, working your way up the sides. Pop in the fridge for 10 minutes then pour on the remaining chocolate spread and top with the orange zest.
15. For the Cherry Almond cake: spread the jam over the cake and cover with 1/3 of the marzipan. Now cover with ¼ of the buttercream until smooth and pipe on 5 rosettes of buttercream. Top with cherries and the extra almonds and cinnamon. Pop in the fridge to set.
16. For the Caramel Apple cake, spread the cake with 1 tbsp of the caramel sauce and cover with 1/3 of the marzipan. Spread with ¼ of the buttercream and pipe on a ring of buttercream around the top. Fill the middle with the caramel apples and their sauce and drizzle over the other 1 tbsp of caramel. Chill in the fridge to set.
17. Keep the Christmas Cakes in the fridge for up to 1 week or at room temperature in a sealed container for 3-5 days.