INDIVIDUAL VEGAN CHRISTMAS CAKES

This is my normal vegan Xmas cake recipe with some minor adjustments. Pluses: these take less cooking time and are nicely two-mouthful sized. We have scoffed our big cake already and I needed something nice to bring to an Xmas tea party so I decided to try my normal recipe as individual cakes, for a change. I'm so glad that these worked.

INGREDIENTS

350 gr wholegrain spelt flour
175gr vegan marg
175gr light muscovado sugar
1 tsp mixed spice
150gr sultanas
200gr raisins
150gr dates
50 gr flaked almonds
1 tblsp treacle
100gr glacé cherries, halved
grated zest of an orange
2 tblsps ground almonds
120ml soya milk
2 tblsps red wine vinegar
¾ tsp of bread soda (bicarbonate of soda)
6 tblsps (90ml) brandy

• Preheat the oven to 160˚C
• Line a shallow bun tin with paper cases
• Sieve the flour and spice
• Rub in the marg until the mix is like breadcrumbs
• Stir in the flaked almonds and treacle
• Add the sugar, dried fruit, cherries, orange zest and ground almonds and mix
• Warm half the soya milk in a small pot and add the vinegar
• Dissolve the bread soda in the rest of the soya milk, then add
this to the milk and vinegar mix
• Stir this into flour and fruit mix until well combined
• Spoon mix into the bun cases and smooth the top
• Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until a skewer/cocktail stick comes out clean
• Brush the tops of the cakes with the brandy
• Cool on a wire rack

FOR THE ICING

500g icing sugar
60ml water
15ml lemon juice (1 tblsp)

• Sieve the icing sugar
• Mix in the water and lemon juice to from a paste
• Microwave on high for 30 seconds until runny
• Pour one dessertspoon of icing onto each cake
• Top with an almond or a glacé cherry or a sweetie - whatever you like!