Plum Bundt Cake - Christmas Special Recipe

 Plum Bundt Cake is a delicious Christmas fruit cake filled with healthy goodness of nuts and dry fruits. This is an egg -less , butter-less , alcohol free cake recipe which is very healthy as it is refined flour and refined sugar free too ! This plum bundt cake is another addition to my healthy bakes. The recipe is instant one, as it does not require pre -soaking of nuts and dry fruits . I have soaked them in a mixture of apple and orange juice for 2-3 hours. The recipe calls for use of whole wheat flour and a little semolina. The beautiful color of the cake comes from the caramelized jaggery. The orange and lemon zest add in to the taste and aroma , making every bite of this cake a blast of flavors. I have made few changes in my previous version of Plum Cake and come up with this recipe.

This plum bundt cake turned out super yum, with a spongy and soft texture , mildly spiced, aromatic, flavorful and perfectly baked . My family loved it to the core and i made it twice in this one week. The cake tastes great on its own, but you may sprinkle powdered sugar , or coat it with chocolate sauce if preferred. The cake can be served at brunch with some vanilla ice-cream to make it a real festive treat . It also serves as a great tea time snack. Kids can enjoy it as a healthy snack at any time of the day. I have recently bought a silicon bundt cake mould and there could not be any other perfect occasion to try it out. I was a little worried as the silicon mould is very wobbly and i doubted whether the cake would come out in good shape, but the results were far better than my expectations. The silicon bundt cake mould does not require any greasing, is very easy to handle, and the cake easily pops out of the mould . I placed the silicon bundt cake mould on a baking tray to make easy handling.

Sending this plum bundt cake recipe to the #124th #FoodieMondayBlogHop where the theme for this week is #Christmas . Do check out my fellow bloggers posts as well for some innovative recipes on this theme. 
                                         
                                         

Preparation time: 2-3 hours
Cooking time: 35 minutes
Servings: 12

Ingredients: Measurements used , 1 cup =200 ml

• 1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup semolina
• 1 teaspoon spice powder ( grind 2 cloves, a small piece of cinnamon stick , nutmeg and dry ginger to make the spice mix.)
• 1 1/2 cups chopped nuts and dry fruits ( i have used , candied apricots, cherries, cranberries, dates, tutti frutti , black raisins, golden raisins, walnuts, cashews, almonds )
• 1/2 cup jaggery powder
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1/2 cup apple juice
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup oil 
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon orange zest
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt

Method:

1. Chop the nuts and dry fruits in to uniform sized chunks. I have even chopped the raisins , i know it sounds tedious, but it ensures you do not end up filling your mouth with raisins with each bite of the cake.  

2. Add the apple , orange and lemon juice  to the chopped nuts and allow it to soak for at least 2 hours.

3. While the nuts are getting soaked, we will prepare the jaggery caramel. For that, in a sauce pan add the jaggery powder and start the pan to heat on low flame.  Now add 2 tablespoon of water to the jaggery and allow the jaggery syrup to cook for 1-2 minutes more while continuously stirring, to prevent it from catching the bottom.

4. Once the jaggery changes its color and thickens a bit, put off the flame. Immediately strain the jaggery to remove the impurities if any.

 5. To this caramelized jaggery syrup , add milk, oil and vanilla extract. Mix well .Our wet ingredients are ready.

                             

 6. When the nuts are soaked for 2 hours, preheat the oven at 180 degree Celsius . In another mixing bowl, sift the whole wheat flour, spice powder, semolina, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the orange and lemon zest to it and mix well. Our dry ingredients are ready.

 7. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones, in batches and blend well with a spatula. Add the soaked nuts to the batter and blend again . The batter is not very runny .

 8. Spoon out the batter into the bundt pan and bake in a preheated oven for 30-35 minutes. To check the done-ness , insert a tooth pick in the center of the cake, if it comes out clean , the cake is perfectly baked, if the tooth pick is sticky, bake the cake for another 5 minutes. Allow the cake to cool down on a wire rack completely, before cutting it.

  Notes:

• You may use grated jaggery if powdered one not available. You may even use regular sugar as a sweetener if preferred.
• I have soaked the nuts and dry fruits only for 2 hours at room temperature. If you wish to soak the fruit overnight, keep it in the refrigerated or else it will turn bitter because of the added apple juice.
• I have used freshly extracted orange and apple juice. You may use store bought.
• Do not skip the orange and lemon zest , as it makes the cake all the more aromatic and flavorful.

Wishing a very happy and blessed Christmas and a prosperous New Year to all my readers !!

I hope you would love to try out this healthy plum cake recipe, if you do so, would love to hear from you. Feel free to share your feedback with us.

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For more Christmas special recipes, do check my posts on

• Egg-less Christmas Plum Cake
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•          Christmas Fruit Cake         
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•  Suji Tutti Frutti Cake
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•  Zebra Cake
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