Pound Cake with Dried Fruits {Egg Free, Butter Free}

Wish you all a very Happy New Year, my friends.

How about we kick off the New Year with this gorgeous Pound Cake with Dried Fruits? Very similar to the Tutti-Fruitti cake that most of you are familiar with. This is such a wonderful, light, fragrant cake to enjoy with your tea or coffee.

And, yes! This Pound Cake with Dried Fruits is egg free, butter free and alcohol-free.

You don’t have to wait until the next holiday season to bake and savor this Pound Cake with dried fruits. You can bake this cake year-round. This Pound Cake with Dried Fruits is not at all heavy nor boozy. I used the store-bought candied fruits (a combination of dried orange peels, oranges, pineapple etc) to bake this Pound Cake with Dried Fruits. This cake reminds me so much of the Tutti-Fruitti Cake I used to love so much back home. However, now that I know how to bake my own cakes, it feels so empowering as I can play around with the ingredients as well as control and decide what should go in my cake without compromising the taste at all.

So, in this Pound Cake with Dried Fruits, I used oil instead of butter (oil in cakes make them stay fresh longer, makes the cakes spongier and less dense), Greek yogurt instead of eggs (some people have dietary restrictions on eggs) and no alcohol. Traditionally fruitcakes are boozy.., but no thank you. I like my booze in a glass, not in my desserts. 🙂

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups flour (180 grams)
• 2 tablespoons flour to coat the dried fruits
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch, 20 grams
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tea spoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup plain yogurt, 8 oz/240 ml/you can use regular yogurt
• 3/4 cup sugar, 150 grams
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 4 oz/120 ml
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract or orange extract or rose water
• 3/4 cup dried fruits mixed with 1/2 tablespoons flour or 3/4 cups of Tutti Fruitti
• 1 tablespoon milk

METHOD:

• Preheat oven to 350 F/180 C degrees
• Lightly butter or spray a baking pan (I used an 8 x 4 loaf pan) with nonstick spray and set it aside.
• In a bowl whisk together all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set it aside.
• In a small bowl toss 1/2 tablespoon all-purpose flour with dried fruits and set aside.
• Beat yogurt and sugar until smooth. You can mix with a hand mixer. Add oil, vanilla extract, and mix until combined.
• Start adding the flour mix in parts, don’t dump the entire thing in one go. Mix until just combined and do not over-mix.
• Fold in the dried fruits.
• Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. sprinkle the milk on top
• Bake at 350 F degrees for around 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Remove cake from oven and let it cool completely before slicing into pieces
• Pink for Later: