EGGLESS LIGHT FRUIT CAKE

I had been baking cakes for long, but had never tried an eggless version before; partly, because there wasn't any need (as both me and my husband eat eggs), and partly, because of my own doubts regarding what the resulting product might be, in terms of taste and texture? Frankly speaking, I wasn't willing to take the risks as I had nobody to guide me on my eggless ventures.

Sometime back, I was having my in-laws for a visit and I thought of surprising them with a home-made eggless fruit cake, as they had given up eggs long ago! I googled for fruit cake and the recipes that came up looked unpromising and quite hectic to the lazy ME!! A few recipes looked ok but didn't fit my bill completely, so I thought of tweaking them a bit. However, the idea of experimenting with the recipe in the first trial itself, seemed like a sure-shot disaster concoction....so gave it up!!
Then I thought of first trying a simple eggless recipe and if it came out right, then proceeding ahead with my own versions of it. This is how I came across this recipe at Rak's Kitchen. The recipe was simple and quick. The step-by-step pictures guided me through the whole process easily and I was totally dumbfounded by the cake's taste and texture. It was even better than the egg version!! Thanks a lot Rajeswari for your wonderful recipe. She has a beautiful site with step-by-step pictures for all her recipes, which makes it easy for newbies like me to follow.
Having found my go-to eggless recipe, I decided to give it my own twist. Here is my adaptation of her versatile recipe:

A beautiful, yummy and scrumptious light fruit cake!! The cake was soft, spongy and moist, and stayed so till its last bite.

WHAT YOU NEED:
1 & 1/4 cup All-purpose flour
1 cup (less 2 tbsp) condensed milk
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup fresh Orange/ Pineapple juice
3 tbsp Castor sugar
1 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Orange Zest
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1 cup finely chopped walnuts, almonds, figs and raisins; tossed in 1 tsp cornflour
1/2 cup tutti-fruity candy; tossed in 1 tsp cornflour

WHAT YOU DO:
Pre-heat your oven to 180 Celsius.
Grease your cake pan. I used a 6*4*3 rectangular pan.
Sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda 4-5 times and reserve.
Rub sugar and zest together with fingers till you start smelling oranges!
Whisk together butter, sugar, condensed milk and juices. Add vanilla and mix properly.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix lighly till you get a smooth batter.
Fold in the dry fruits and candies. The batter will be thick. Sprinkle some chopped nuts and candies on top.
Pour the batter into the pan and tap it gently to remove any large air bubbles.
Bake it for 30-35 mins or till a skewer comes out with a few moist crumbs sticking to it.
If you want a glaze on top then brush the top with milk and put it in the oven for 2 mins.
NOTE: 

• As the oven temperatures may vary, start checking your cake after 25 mins. If it still seems like a long way to go then cover the top with an aluminium foil and then bake, or you'll have a burnt top cake!

• Baking times also depend on the type and size of cake pan! So the best way is to check and proceed.

• As the recipe uses baking soda, leaving the batter sitting on counter top for long can make the cake hard. Put the batter immediately into baking.
• Using fresh juice enhances a flavour a lot. However you can use tinned/ canned juices in case of non-availability of fresh fruits.

• If you wish to use oil in place of butter, you can simply replace 1/2 cup of butter with 1/3 cup sunflower/ rice bran oil....rest of the ingredients remain the same. However butter imparts its own flavor to the cake, making it more delicious. 

 

You'll be seeing many more versions of this cake!!