Start by soaking the dry fruit and nuts in orange juice and/ or rum for at least 12 hours. Check the tips section on more details.
2½~3 cups Dry Fruit Nuts*, ½ cup Orange or Apple juice, ½ cup Rum, brandy or sherry
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease 2 8½ x 4½-inch loaf pans or 3~4 mini loaf pans or 1 8-inch round pan. Lightly grease the pan with cooking spray and line the bottom with a parchment. Lightly grease the parchment as well.
In a measuring jar, combine milk and vinegar and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Stir in baking soda, vanilla extract and orange zest. The mixture will bubble a little. Set aside while you prepare other ingredients.
1 cup Almond Milk (or other non-dairy milk), 2 tablespoons Apple cider Vinegar, 1 teaspoon Baking Soda, 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract, 1 tablespoon Orange zest
In a medium size bowl, sift flours, baking powder, salt and all the spices. Mix until combined. Set aside.
2¼ cups All purpose flour, ½ teaspoon Baking Powder, ½ teaspoon Salt, 1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon Ground cloves, ¼ teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
In a large bowl, combine oil and brown sugar. Using a whisk beat the mixture until very smooth, about 4~5 minutes.
⅔ cup Oil*, 1¼ cups Light brown Sugar*
Add the dry ingredients into the bowl and mix until combined and no dry flour remains. Stir in the soaked dry fruit mixture along with any of the leftover marinade. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan.
Bake for 35-50 minutes (check the Tips section for baking times for different baking pans) until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Remove the pan from the oven and set aside for 5 minutes before removing the cake onto a wire rack. Cool the cake completely before slicing.