Maltese Spice Cake

Now that we're past the halfway point of November, we've started to plan out our fridge space allotment for holiday cooking and baking projects and really watch the flyers for baking ingredient sales. Since most of the stuff in our overloaded pantry and refrigerator is mine, I was given the ultimatum of "use it up or it's getting tossed". If I ever needed an excuse to bake, it was that - my "use everything you can" philosophy can turn into a bit of a "pack-rat" behaviour, but when it needs to be used, I go to it!

I don't remember how I stumbled on this interestingly-named loaf cake on Sexy Vegan Mama, but when I did I immediately pinned it as a "must try". By the time I revisited it, it had become more of a guideline than a recipe to follow verbatim, as I wound up not only halving the batch, but changing a good amount of the ingredients to compensate for the items I had to use on hand. My version is studded with "crimson raisins", almond milk and a hit of vanilla-orange Creamsicle Jelly as well as the hearty blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and cardamom. The crumb is soft and moist, with a hint of earthiness that makes it perfect for either a weeknight dessert or a Sunday afternoon teatime treat. As for the name, well it comes not from the nation but from William Maltese, who was Christina-Marie's co-author on Get-Real Vegan Desserts: Vegan Recipes for the Rest of Us. Wherever it came from, I just call it tasty!

Maltese Spice Cake
Serves 10
¼ cup camelina or canola oil
½ cup orange or peach jam (I used my Creamsicle Jelly)
1 tbsp vanilla extract
¾ cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 cup flour
¾ cup spelt flour
½ cup sugar
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp allspice
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp cardamom
1 cup raisins (I used “crimson” raisins)

1. Preheat oven to 375F and grease a 9x5” pan.
2. Mix the oil, jam, vanilla, almond milk, and vinegar in a bowl until well blended.
3. Add flours, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and cardamom.
4. Stir to just combine, then mix in the raisins.
5. Bake 45-55 minutes, or until tests done.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 242.5
Total Fat: 6.3 g
Cholesterol: 2.0 mg
Sodium: 16.2 mg
Total Carbs: 45.1 g
Dietary Fiber: 2.0 g
Protein: 3.5 g