Note: This recipe originally appeared as part of a contribution to Author Sarah Tantlinger’s Halloween Month celebrations in her “Delicious Horror” blog post series. Be sure to check out all the amazing posts that she shared that month. There were some wicked good bakes and culinary delights!

This cake is inspired by “The Familiars” by Stacey Halls.

“The Familiars” is a beautiful story of the power of women, sisterhood, and the hysteria surrounding religion and witchcraft. It’s about connections between people, the bonds of womanhood (in all its incarnations,) and love. It’s a slow burn historical fiction with subtle elements of horror and witchy fantasy. While it isn’t something that is dark, gory, or overtly violent, it does contain a lot of themes we often find in witchy reads: misogyny, women’s issues, pregnancy and pregnancy loss, the meaning of family/chosen family, etc. It is also very moody and romantic in a way. I wanted to create a cake that reflected all of these elements, so I chose fruits, nuts and seeds, and ingredients that reflect the setting and themes of femininity.

Plus, how could you not fall in love with that cover art aesthetic?

“The Familiars” Inspired Fruit Cake by Ellen Avigliano 

(Gluten Free, Vegan)

INGREDIENTS

3 Cups of GF Baking Flour (I used: 2c Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 as well as 1c almond flour)

1 teaspoon of finely ground loose leaf Earl Grey Tea (ground mind in a coffee grinder!)

¾ teaspoon of Lavender Sea Salt

2 tsp Baking Powder

1 Cup Earl Grey Milk (1 TBSP Earl Grey Royale Tea, Steeped in 1 to 1 ¼ cups boiled non-dairy Vanilla Milk)

2 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract

½ Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

¼ Cup Pomegranate Seeds

¾ C White Sugar

¼ Cup Brown Sugar, packed

3 “Flax Eggs”

⅔ Cup Neutral Oil like Canola Oil

1 TBSP apple cider vinegar

¼ teaspoon of ground cardamom

¼ teaspoon of cinnamon

¼ teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice

Optional: ½ cup of golden raisins or ½ cup of chopped pitted dates

DIRECTIONS

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Boil one to one and ¼ cups of Vanilla non-dairy milk in a pot and set in 1 TBSP of earl grey tea to steep for about 5 minutes.  Strain and set aside to cool to room temperature.  When cool, mix in the 1 TBSP apple cider vinegar and allow to thicken slightly (may curdle, this is okay!)

To make a Flax Egg combine 1TBSP of ground flax seed with 2-3TBSP of water or non-dairy milk, let set aside until it forms a yolky, gel-like consistency. (You’ll need 3 for this recipe!)

In a medium sized mixing bowl, sift together the GF Baking Flour, Ground Earl Grey Tea, Sea Salt, Baking Powder, Cardamom, Cinnamon, and Pumpkin Pie Spice. Mix together well.

In a large bowl of a stand mixer (or large mixing bowl if mixing by hand) combine the following ingredients on medium speed: white sugar, brown sugar, canola oil, and Earl Grey Milk.  Mix well then add in the flax egg until thoroughly combined.

Switch the mixer speed to low, and slowly sift in the dry mixture ½ to ¾ of a cup at a time. Don’t worry about over mixing as gluten free flour does not get tough like regular flour when “overmixed.”  Mix until all flour mixture is well incorporated then remove bowl from stand mixer and gently fold in your pumpkin seeds, pomegranate seeds, and other dried fruit or nuts if using.

Line a 9” loaf pan with parchment paper, and spray generously with non-stick spray.  Pour the batter evenly into your pan and spread flat so the top is even.

When the oven is up to temperature, place the loaf pan on the middle rack close to the rear of the oven.  Bake for 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.   Depending on the size, make, age of  your oven, cook times may vary; convection ovens do tend to have a tendency to cook up to 25% faster.  Some older ovens may take longer to bake (50-65 minutes) so keep an eye on your loaf and check for doneness occasionally.

Remove from the oven and let cool for 15 minutes before turning out onto a parchment lined wire rack to cool. Slice and serve when room temperature. Cake will be more dense and a bit closer to a fruit-cake or date-nut bread texture than a traditional airy sponge cake.

*NOTE*: To achieve the decorated top as I did in my images, you’ll need a little bit of patience and a few extra ingredients. I used 1 ripe Starfruit, sliced into ¼ inch pieces.  Before filling the tin with the cake batter, I carefully laid them into the bottom of my loaf pan, then sprinkled extra pomegranate seeds around and in between. Once your fruit decorations are arranged as you like, carefully and gently pour the batter in over the top! When you demould your cake after it’s done, it should have a slightly caramelized star fruit and beautiful “upside down cake” appearance.

*NOTE*: I like to keep this cake refrigerated in slices separated by parchment. Then I toast them to have along with my morning coffee, with a little shmear of vegan butter like Miyokos, or vegan cream cheese!  Although this cake hardly lasted a week, in the past I have frozen and defrosted similar cake recipes before and it went fairly well! :) 

By Ellen Avigliano

Twitter: @imaginariumcs

Website: www.imaginariumarts.com