Delia's Xmas cake. Times questionable?

[ladybyron]

I have made this cake many years and find her 4-4 1/2 hrs timing crazy. If I'd followed this the whole thing would have been burnt. I quite frankly feels it needs 3hrs max as it is still cooking when it cools down. I've just done the Waitrose ready prepared one and quite honestly it makes you feel as you're not getting into the Xmas buzz as so many of the ingredients are measured out for you. The treacle sachet which I nearly forgot was a nightmare and I'm not convinced if the whole stir it together is going to work. Certainly saved on time but....something ...the essence of starting to prepare for Xmas was missing.

[domesticsluttery]

It probably depends on your oven. I cook mine for 4hrs and it is fine, any less and it isn't quite cooked in the middle.

[LadyViper]

She overcooks chicken too.

[taffetacat]

Agree with domestic, it depends on your oven. I make Delia's every year, we used to have an ancient gas oven and it needed even longer than the recommended time ( I make a 20 cm square cake ), yet in my new electric conventional oven it needs over an hour less.

[mmmmmchocolate]

Oh dear. I made two, to give away as gifts. The first one I left in for 4 1/2 hours and the second only 3 1/2 hours. The first one is a fair bit darker and flatter. Is it going to taste like crap? I wondered if the timings were out...

[waterlooroadisadocumentary]

I saw the prepared one in Waitrose today and wondered if it would feel the same doing it that way. I love going to our local shop and buying all the ingredients. I thought £10 was very good value though.

[mosaica]

I'm glad I've read this. I've made her Xmas cake three or four times and every time it was quite burnt, but I thought it was me doing something wrong. So you think 3 hours is plenty?

[ohforfoxsake]

Its worth buying an oven thermometer for baking I think. Christmas cakes catch really easily. I usually end up slicing the top off before icing.

[MiasmARGGG]

I checked mine at 4 hours and t felt done. I thibk it would have been burnt round the edges if I'd left it in for another half and hour.

[aseriouslyblondemoment]

i have to say that i have never had a prob with delia's cake
i bake mine in the fan oven and reduce the temp by 20o
however what i do do and i know that TC does this as wellis to soak the dried fruit in brandy for a good few days
interestingly tho i did bake one in the conventional oven at the usual temp and for the usual time and felt that it was def a touch overdone
saying that i'm quite sure that once it's had it's weekly drowning feeding with brandy and is marzipanned and iced that they won't tell the difference

[Strawbezza]

Co-incidentally I've made this today. I soaked the fruit in about 6 tbsps of brandy, not 3. And I cooked it for 3 hours, not 4+. Not at all burnt, perfectly done in fact.

[Bearcat]

I bought the Delia bag of ingredients in Waitrose yesterday.
I probably haven't made a christmas cake for 10 years and loved the fact that I won't have half a tub of glace cherries in the cupboard until they go out of date or the best part of a tin of black treacle in there for years on end.
Cooked the cake yesterday afternoon and it has turned out very well.
Buying a bag of ready weighed ingredients where there will be no waste may be what converts me back to baking my own christmas cake again in the years to come.
As for the treacle sachet, the recipe says to put it into a cup of warm water before opening and this worked really well and the treacle came out of the sachet easily.