"We are dedicated to cruelty-free living through a vegetarian - vegan lifestyle. Let no animal suffer or die that we may live!"
Fruit cake - delicious, moist, and spicy is a wonderful vegan recipe that dispels all the jokes about fruitcake; this recipe is a true delight for any holiday or special occasion meal. The fruitcake contains no oils or refined sugars. We have successfully baked this fruit cake in either our microwave oven (in about half the time) or in our conventional oven. Leftover fruit cake, if there is any, can be stored in the refrigerator for several days in the tightly covered baking dish.
Place all of the Wet Ingredients in a "Pyrex" or other heat treated glass cooking pot, and put on the stove top. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. We find it helps to put the pot in a sink of cold water that comes up to about 2/3 the height of the pot. Mix the ingredients and change the water in the sink as necessary, or add ice to the sink water to bring the temperature of the ingredients down so you can touch it without burning your finger.
Place all the Dry Ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix well. When the Wet Ingredients have cooled, add to the Dry Ingredients and mix so that all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed together.
Place the Fruit Cake mix in a "Pyrex" or other heat treated large glass baking dish (8 inches X 13 inches), or two smaller dishes. The ingredients should fill one large baking dish to nearly the top.
Place the topping on the cake by alternating a Pecan half and a Maraschino Cherry half or other dried fruit in a decorative pattern so that the whole surface has nuts and cherries evenly dispersed (leave a small space between each piece).
Place the baking dish in a preheated oven at 325 degrees F. and bake for 45 minutes. We find it helpful to cover the cake with a piece of aluminum foil for the first 40 minutes of baking to keep the top from drying out. Test the cake with a tooth pick to insure that it is baked. If moist ingredients stick to the tooth pick, bake for another 5 minutes.
If baking in the microwave oven, tightly cover the baking dish with plastic wrap, and bake on "high" for about 20-25 minutes without removing the plastic wrap. Test the completeness of the baking by lightly touching the corner and center of the fruitcake with a finger to make sure the center is springy and not wet, and the corners are springy.
Remove from the oven, and let cool in the baking dish on a wire rack, with the covering on so that the fruit cake does not dry out.
Enjoy!
The above recipe is in keeping with God's creation intent (Genesis 1:29-31): 'Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground-- everything that has the breath of life in it-- I give every green plant for food." And it was so. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.' (NIV) Let no animal suffer or die that we may live!