Vegan Fruit Cake Loaf

Traditional fruitcake meets banana bread in this vegan fruit cake recipe. It’s rich, moist, sweet, super quick and easy to make, and perfect for the holidays!

Sweet and Simple Vegan Fruit Loaf Cake Recipe

Traditional Christmas fruitcake is a rich, dense cake made with candied or dried fruit, sometimes nuts, and warming spices, and it’s sometimes topped with apricot jam and marzipan. Sound familiar? You might also know that fruitcake has a love it or leave it reputation.

For this recipe, I’ve stepped away from tradition to make a fruit cake loaf jam-packed with fruit but a little lighter, fluffier, and more crowd-pleasing than ever. This quick fruit loaf is like easy vegan banana bread meets tea loaf meets fruitcake and is moist and tender with a chewy burst of fruity flavor in every bite.

It’s also SO simple to make. Just measure, mash, mix (by hand or with a mixer), and bake. It’s as great to enjoy as a vegan Christmas cake as it is year-round, with lashings of vegan butter and a warm cup of tea or coffee.

Looking for more vegan crowd-pleasing holiday treats? Check out my recipes for silken vegan chocolate peppermint pie, vegan gingerbread cake, chocolate fruit bars, or vegan chocolate crinkle cookies.

The Ingredients and Substitutes

You only need simple pantry ingredients for this vegan fruit loaf. You’ll find the full amounts in the recipe card below.

• Vegan butter: Use room temperature vegan butter, like Miyoko’s or Earth Balance, so it creams up light and fluffy with the sugar. Solid coconut oil may also work, but I haven’t tried it.
• Sugar: Sweetens the loaf and helps the butter turn fluffy. Raw cane sugar or coconut sugar also work, and using half brown sugar adds a warm molasses flavor.
• Unsweetened applesauce: Binds the batter, keeps it moist, and adds a subtle apple flavor.
• Ripe bananas: Pick bananas with plenty of brown spots on the peel. They add flavor and work as the egg replacement in this vegan fruit cake.
• All-purpose flour: Or use half regular and half whole wheat flour.
• Baking powder and baking soda: Give the loaf its lift and tender texture.
• Cinnamon and nutmeg: Add classic warm holiday spice.
• Salt: Balances the sweetness and brings out all the flavors.
• Dried fruit: I use dried cranberries, golden raisins, and dried apricots, but you can use what you have, like regular raisins, sultanas, dried cherries, dates, figs, currants, or candied peel.

What Could I Add To a Fruit Loaf?

• Ground ginger: To boost the warm spices in the vegan tea loaf.
• Nuts: Add some crunchy texture with chopped walnuts, pecans, almonds, etc.
• Tea soak: Soak the dried fruit in warm black tea to plump it up, then drain it well. Warm orange juice or apple juice should work too, but I haven’t tested a juice soak in this recipe.
• Zest: Use orange zest, lemon zest, or a combination of the two for a subtle citrus flavor in this fruit loaf.
• Glace cherries: Finely chopped.
• Vegan icing: A simple one made with powdered sugar + plant-based milk or orange juice.
• Fruity glaze: Heat marmalade or apricot jam with a splash of water until runny and brush over the loaf while it’s still warm from baking.

How to Make Vegan Fruit Cake

Be careful not to over-mix it, though, or it can overwork the gluten in the flour and lead to a dense, tough loaf.

FAQs

Top Recipe Tips and Notes

• Measure flour correctly: Fluff it up in its bag, spoon it into the measuring cup, and level it with a knife rather than scooping it from the flour bag. This helps to avoid a dense and/or dry banana fruit cake.
• Chop larger dried fruits: If the pieces are too big, they’ll all sink to the bottom of the cake when baking.  
• Don’t over-mix the batter: The fruit loaf may be dense/dry if you overwork the gluten in the flour. Mix it until just combined. A few small lumps are fine.
• Use fresh leavening agents: If you’re unsure, test them. Combine ¼ tsp baking soda + 2 tsp vinegar and, in a separate bowl, ½ tsp baking powder + 3 to 4 Tablespoons of water. Both should start to bubble immediately.

Storage Instructions

Leave the vegan fruit cake to cool and then store it in an airtight container or this cake container like I used in the photo at room temperature for 2 to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to a week. It’ll taste even better on day two.

You can also freeze the banana fruit cake whole or sliced and wrapped in plastic wrap for up to 3 months.

Leave it to thaw in the refrigerator overnight, on the counter for several hours, or defrost individual slices in a toaster or microwave as needed.