Kerala Plum Cake Recipe / Kerala Christmas Fruit Cake with step by step pics and a short Youtube video. If you like my video, please share it and don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to my channel. I have already shared another Plum Cake Recipe in my blog, with a completely different set of ingredients but this a Kerala style one, which is an eggless, butterless and alcohol-free recipe. Usually, dry fruits and nuts are soaked in alcohol like rum or brandy for a few months, which gives a slight booziness after eating. I have used fresh orange juice with the peels of orange for soaking the nuts and fruits, you can replace it with alcohol or apple juice too. Also, you can adjust the dry fruits, nuts and sugar as per your wish, I used 1/2 cup of sugar, it was just perfect for me but you can increase to 1 cup too. I have shared a lot of tips, so read it carefully before trying this flavourful and delicious cake.
Check my other Baked Goodies like
- Eggless Tutti Frutti Cake
- Eggless Orange Cake
- Eggless Marble Cake
- Eggless Chocolate Cake
- Eggless Strawberry Cake
Plum Cake Recipe Kerala Style
Kerala Plum Cake Recipe | Kerala Christmas Fruit Cake
Ingredients
1 Cup = 250 ML, 1 tsp = 5ML
For Soaking
- ¼ Cup Walnuts
- ¼ Cup Cashews
- 2 tbsp Almonds
- 2 tbsp Pistachios
- ½ Cup Dates
- 2 tbsp Raisins
- 2 tbsp Black Current
- 10 Cherry
- 1 Cup Orange Juice
For Caramel
- ½ Cup Sugar
- 1 Cup + 2 tbsp Cup Water
Wet Ingredients
- ⅓ Cup Oil
- 1½ tbsp Vinegar / Lemon Juice
Dry Ingredients
- 2 Cup Maida / All purpose Flour
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- ½ tsp Baking Powder
- ¼ tsp Cardamom Powder
- ¼ tsp Nutmeg Powder
- ¼ tsp Cinnamon Powder
- ⅛ tsp Cloves Powder
Instructions
- Chop the nuts finely, then rinse the dry fruits and nuts in water twice. Then, soak all the nuts and dry fruits in 1 cup of orange juice. Keep refrigerated for 1 or 2 days. But bring it to room temperature, before adding it to the cake batter.
- For caramelizing the Sugar: To a pan, add 1/2 cup of sugar and 2 tbsp of water.
- Heat in very low flame, till bubbles appear. Stir till the sugar crystallizes and turn brownish (watch my YouTube video, for full details). Immediately pour 1 cup of water, the sugar hardens now. Heat in low flame again, till the sugar dissolves completely.
- No syrup or string consistency is needed. Keep the caramel aside and let it cool down completely.
- For the spice powder: To a dry mixer, add cinnamon, cardamom and cloves. Add 1 or 2 tsp of sugar, so it grinds easily and then powder it. If you have all the spice powders in hand, skip this step and you can use it directly.
- Measure and keep all the dry ingredients ready.
- Keep a wide bowl and place a sieve over it. Then, sift maida, baking soda, baking powder and the spice powders once.
- Add the soaked nuts and dry fruits to the dry ingredients. To the caramel, pour the oil and vinegar.
- Now, add the caramel mixture and fold it gently. I used tutti frutti, if using just coat with 1 tsp of maida, else it sinks to the bottom.
- Fold the batter gently and ensure there are no lumps. By the meantime, preheat the oven for 10 minutes at 180c. Then, brush a baking tray (8" pan) with oil and dust little flour all over or line it with a butter paper. Transfer the batter to the baking tray, then level it with a ladle/spatula. Shake the pan twice, so that the air bubbles releases.
- Place the tray in a pre-heated oven and bake it for 50minutes to 1 hour at 180c or a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.Do try this Kerala Plum Cake Recipe for this Christmas festival.
Video
Notes
Tips for Kerala Christmas Fruit Cake
- Dry fruits and nuts can be chosen and altered as per your wish. If you have candied orange peels (2 tbsp) don't miss to add it.
- Orange juice can be replaced with apple juice for soaking the nuts and dry fruits.
- I soaked the nuts, dry fruits for 2 days and refrigerated it. But bring it to room temperature before mixing to the cake batter.
- Don't skip caramelizing the sugar, as it lends a nice flavour and colour to the cake. But ensure not to burn it and no string or syrup consistency is needed.
- Always cool the caramel completely and then add oil + vinegar.
- Vinegar can be replaced with the same quantity of lemon juice also.
- I used unflavoured oil, it can be replaced with olive oil or melted butter too, it gives nice texture to the Kerala Plum Cake Recipe.
- If you have all the cardamom, clove, cinnamon powder in hand, skip the grinding step.
- Sieving the dry ingredients is a must, as it helps in even mixing.
- Don't whisk the batter, just fold it with a spatula, else the cake wont raise much.
- This cake stays good for 15 days under refrigeration, but warm it up before eating.
- Always cool the cake and then slice it, else it gets crumbled.
- In Microwave: Preheat it and bake the cake in convection mode at 180c for 50minutes to 1 hour.
2. Ensure baking powder and baking soda is within the expiry date, else the cake won't raise and turns spongy.
3. Always ensure all the wet ingredients like milk, curd, vinegar, lemon juice, condensed milk etc are at room temperature.
4. Once you prepare the batter, bake it immediately, otherwise, the baking powder de-activate and the cake won't raise.
5. Don’t over whisk the batter, else the cake becomes hard.
6. Choose correct sized baking tray, else while baking itself the cake overflows. To avoid this fill the batter to 1/2 of the tray.
7. If the cake doesn’t get baked in the center, cover the tray with an aluminum foil or butter paper and bake for another 10 minutes.
8. Never open the door of the oven in the first 20 minutes of baking.
Kerala Christmas Fruit Cake Recipe
Method for Kerala Plum Cake Recipe
1. Chop the nuts finely, then rinse the dry fruits and nuts in water twice. Then, soak all the nuts and dry fruits in 1 cup of orange juice. Keep refrigerated for 1 or 2 days. But bring it to room temperature, before adding it to the cake batter.
2. For caramelizing the Sugar: To a pan, add 1/2 cup of sugar and 2 tbsp of water.
3. Heat in very low flame, till bubbles appear. Stir till the sugar crystallizes and turn brownish (watch my YouTube video, for full details). Immediately pour 1 cup of water, the sugar hardens now. Heat in low flame again, till the sugar dissolves completely.
4. No syrup or string consistency is needed. Keep the caramel aside and let it cool down completely.
5. For the spice powder: To a dry mixer, add cinnamon, cardamom and cloves. Add 1 or 2 tsp of sugar, so it grinds easily and then powder it. If you have all the spice powders in hand, skip this step and you can use it directly.
6. Measure and keep all the dry ingredients ready.
7. Keep a wide bowl and place a sieve over it. Then, sift maida, baking soda, baking powder and the spice powders once.
8. Add the soaked nuts and dry fruits to the dry ingredients. To the caramel, pour the oil and vinegar.
9. Now, add the caramel mixture and fold it gently. I used tutti frutti, if using just coat with 1 tsp of maida, else it sinks to the bottom.
10. Fold the batter gently and ensure there are no lumps. By the meantime, preheat the oven for 10 minutes at 180c. Then, brush a baking tray (8″ pan) with oil and dust little flour all over or line it with a butter paper. Transfer the batter to the baking tray, then level it with a ladle/spatula. Shake the pan twice, so that the air bubbles releases.
11. Place the tray in a pre-heated oven and bake it for 50 minutes to 1 hour at 180c or a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Do try this Kerala Plum Cake Recipe for this Christmas festival.
Kerala Plum Cake Recipe
Welcome to my blog www.asmallbite.com. Thanks for reading my blog! I hope you’re enjoying my recipes to make the taste forever. I am Priya Santhamohan, writer and photographer (with hubby’s help) of this blog.
Tried this recipe twice. Both times the cake turned out really well. I substituted wheat flour for maida and added some clove powder and dry ginger powder. Thanks for the recipe.
Glad that you liked it, keep visiting my website for more interesting recipes.