Egg-Free Fresh Fruit Cake

For this Valentine's Day, I decided to draw inspiration from another one of my favorites from Hans and Harry Bakery. On a previous post, I shared my homemade version of their famous fresh fruit strudel. This time around, I've created an egg-free version of their equally popular fresh fruit cake.  It's a rich vanilla butter cake layered with Bavarian cream and topped with fresh fruit.

You might have noticed the even though the recipe makes two cake layers, I only have one layer in the photo. My son was hovering around me, smacking his lips and eagerly waiting for this cake.  So I just quickly arranged the fruit on top and let him eat his Valentine's Day cake :-)



Here's another variation of my fresh fruit cake with only strawberries (see, I got to use two cake layers for this one). Feel free to use any fruit you'd like and it doesn't necessarily have to be fresh fruit either.  Sometimes I use frozen fruit (like blueberries or raspberries) and canned fruit (like pineapple and peaches).



Happy Valentine's Day!

Egg-Free Fresh Fruit Cake
Makes 2 layers (6 1/2 cups of batter)
Allergy Note: contains wheat and dairy ingredients

cake:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoons salt
3/4 cups butter, melted
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 1/4 cups warm milk
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

cream:
1 box instant vanilla pudding mix
1 pint whipping cream
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon flavored liqueur (optional)

cake syrup:
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup seedless raspberry jam

strawberries, cut in half
mandarin orange segments or peaches
blueberries

for the cake:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 8-inch or 9-inch cake pans.
In a large mixing bowl, sift together dry ingredients. In a medium mixing bowl, combine butter, vegetable oil, milk, vinegar and vanilla extract. Add to the dry ingredients. Mix till smooth. Pour into prepared cake pans. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool completely. Level and trim the top of the cakes.

For the cream:
Using an electric mixer, whisk together instant pudding mix, milk and whipping cream (and flavored liqueur) together until thickened.

For the cake syrup:
Combine ingredients in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat for 1 to 2 minutes on HIGH. Stir till the sugar is dissolved. Allow to cool.

To assemble the cake:
Drizzle a little bit of cake syrup over the cake. Spread half of the seedless raspberry jam over the cake.  Spread half of the cream over the cake. Repeat for the second cake layer. Top with fruit. Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.