This Vegan Tunis Cake is a plant based alternative to the traditional Madeira cake topped with chocolate and decorated with marzipan fruits. Get the recipe below.
Cakes for Christmas
Christmas is a time for cake, chocolate and other sweet treats. It's the most indulgent holiday season.
There are lots of traditional cakes and biscuits eaten this time of year. There are different traditions all over the world, some of which are better known than others.
This year I'm making a traditional Christmas cake that you might not be as familiar with. Although it's not as popular as it once was it's still a delicious cake that I think should be celebrated. Let's give it a revival and a plant based twist!
What is a Tunis Cake?
The Tunis Cake is a delicious cake that has been traditionally served at Christmas.
It's a much lighter alternative to the usual fruit cake that we all think of when we hear the words "Christmas Cake".
Tunis cake is made with a moist sponge, topped with chocolate and then decorated with marzipan fruits.
The recipe might go all the way back to the Edwardian era. But, now just a handful of supermarkets sell it at Christmas time.
Because it's not as easy to find as it once was, I think it's nice to make one yourself. Especially because I've never seen a Vegan Tunis Cake in the supermarket!
How to make a Vegan Tunis Cake
Vegan Madeira Cake
Tunis Cake is made with a Madeira sponge. A Madeira sponge is just a type of simple sponge flavoured with lemon. Mary Berry adds ground almonds to her but it's not necessary.
For my Vegan Tunis Cake I've used a classic vegan sponge cake recipe and added the juice and zest of a lemon to mimic the flavour of a normal Madeira sponge.
To make the cake you'll need
- Vegan soy yogurt or similar vegan yogurt
- Soy milk or another plant milk
- Caster sugar
- Vanilla paste
- Vegetable oil
- A lemon (juice and zest)
- Self raising flour
- Baking powder
The method is simple. First you mix the wet ingredients together (that's everything except the self raising flour and baking powder). Once the wet ingredients are well combined you then mix them with the dry ingredients.
Once baked you have a really moist cake with a tender crumb flavoured with a hint of lemon.
Vegan Ganache
The top of a Tunis Cake is a layer of chocolate.
For my Vegan Tunis Cake I make a dark chocolate ganache and pour this over the top then leave it to cool. You end up with a glossy, flat top that you can then decorate with marzipan fruits.
Making vegan dark chocolate ganache is easy now that we have good quality vegan cream alternatives.
I use Elmlea's plant based double cream but Oatly do a good whipping cream which works well too.
To make the ganache you simply heat the cream, then pour it over the chocolate. The heat from the cream will melt the chocolate. Leave the ganache to cool slightly but not until it is set. Then, pour over the cake.
Because you've left the cake to cool in the tin with the baking paper round the edges, when you pour over the ganache you will get crisp edges.
Marzipan Fruits
Once the ganache layer has set it's time to decorate! It's traditional to do this with marzipan fruits which you can buy in any supermarket at Christmas.
Alternatively you could make your own. Follow my recipe for marzipan fruits here.
The recipe
Vegan Tunis Cake
Ingredients
- 125 ml soy yogurt or similar vegan yogurt
- 175 ml soy milk or another plant milk
- 150 g caster sugar
- 0.5 teaspoon vanilla paste
- 3 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 3 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 lemon zest
- 250 g self raising flour
- 0.5 teaspoon baking powder
- 300 ml vegan cream
- 400 g dark chocolate
- 3 marzipan fruits
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 C / 356 F / gas mark 4.
- Line a 7 inch cake tin with baking paper.
- Add the yogurt, milk, caster sugar, vanilla paste, vegetable oil, lemon juice and lemon zest to a jug and whisk well.
- In a bowl, whisk together the self raising flour and baking powder.
- Create a well in the middle of the flour and then slowly pour in the wet ingredients while whisking until you had a smooth batter.
- Pour the batter into the lined cake tin.
- Bake for 35 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
- Leave the cake to cool – do not remove from the tin.
- Once the cake is cool, heat the cream until just starting to bubble but not boiling.
- Remove from the heat and add the chocolate.
- Stir gently to help the chocolate melt.
- Once the ganache is smooth and glossy
- Leave to cool, but still pourable.
- Pour the ganache over the top of the cake and put it aside to set.
- Once it has set, top with the marzipan fruits.
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