Christmas cake help please

[42andcounting]

I've never made a Christmas cake before, or in fact even a fruit cake, but I found my mum's old recipe and thought I'd have a go. The recipe said 2 hours at 160, then 1 hour at 140, then half hour at 130. When I checked it at two hours, the skewer came out clean and it looked cooked, and I panicked a bit. Then my husband suggested that maybe our fan oven just cooks a lot faster than my mum's old electric did. Upshot is, I took it out at the 2 and a half hour mark, and now I don't know how I can tell if it's ok other than cutting it open. Can anyone give me any advice please? I'm happy to re-do it if necessary, but still don't know how long I should cook it for 🤦‍♀️ (Mum has sadly been deceased for quite a few years so I can't ask her).

If you've skewered it and its clean then it'll be cooked.
Ive just baked one and it said 2hrs but mine was done after 1.5, i left it a bit longer because i wasnt sure but it started to burn around the edges.
I realised I'd used a larger cake tin so mine was therefore shallower than the receipe, hence quicker cook time.

Agree with your DH that fan oven will have made a difference.

I made mine today. It was 1 hour at 170 then 2 to 2 1/4 at 150. I checked with a skewer after 2 hours at 150 and it was definitely done, so 3 hours in total.

This was for an 8 inch round cake.

Fan will have made a big difference - mine is currently in on 140, fan off, recipe says 3.5 hours but I will check at 2. I've also wrapped it in a collar as my mum taught me - several layers of baking parchment in the tin on the bottom and the sides and then a collar of newspaper round the side tied on with string and a little hat of baking parchment on top to stop the edges catching or cooking too fast.

Ah that might be it then, it said a round 9", but I only had a square 8.5". Thank you so much 😁

Square cakes cook slightly quicker than round. Surface area and all that. Having said that, I'd never cook a rich fruit cake higher than 150 but ovens do vary; they are rarely at a stable temperature throughout. Too high a temp can dry the outside too much which is why covering the tin with newspaper is advisable. Fan ovens do cook more quickly too.

If the skewer was clean it'll be fine.
The skill in making a rich fruit cake is definitely in the baking!

Fans roughly reduce the required temperature by approximately 20°C. If you've cooked it at a higher temperature you will probably need to feed it a bit more often .

I'm sure it's fine if the skewer was clean, but if it's a standard fruit cake-type of Christmas cake that you'll be covering in marzipan and then icing, and you're worried - then cut it in half, check it's baked through, then wapp that marzipan and royal icing on! It'll set like cement and glue that sucker together, nobody will ever know.

@GlomOfNit

I'm sure it's fine if the skewer was clean, but if it's a standard fruit cake-type of Christmas cake that you'll be covering in marzipan and then icing, and you're worried - then cut it in half, check it's baked through, then wapp that marzipan and royal icing on! It'll set like cement and glue that sucker together, nobody will ever know.

This is the voice of experience! Brilliant solution.

OP I am sure your cake will be splendid, did you think of your mum during the baking process? A kind of Proustian link with her.

@GlomOfNit

I'm sure it's fine if the skewer was clean, but if it's a standard fruit cake-type of Christmas cake that you'll be covering in marzipan and then icing, and you're worried - then cut it in half, check it's baked through, then wapp that marzipan and royal icing on! It'll set like cement and glue that sucker together, nobody will ever know.

Oh my lord, this is genius. I'm definitely going to do this, thank you so much!!!

Let us know how it goes!

@FlibbertyGiblets Yes, she was definitely looking over my shoulder. Mainly reminding me how patient she was baking with me as a child, in comparison with me telling my 8yo 50,000 times that she can't eat the mixture because it has raw eggs in it

No need to cut it. It sounds like it was cooked. Even in a conventional oven, 160 is pretty aggressive for a Christmas cake.

Ah that is lovely (and funny)
Thank you for sharing a little bit about your dear Mum. I hope not too painful for you, sometimes these moments can cut deeply even years after.

[quote 42andcounting]@FlibbertyGiblets Yes, she was definitely looking over my shoulder. Mainly reminding me how patient she was baking with me as a child, in comparison with me telling my 8yo 50,000 times that she can't eat the mixture because it has raw eggs in it [/quote]
But the raw mixture is absolutely the best bit!
If you get good quality eggs she should be fine. Having said that, I wouldn't risk it on a toddler, but I was never ill after licking the bowl in the 1960's - maybe the alcohol helped!

Don't let her miss out on the raw cake mixture, that's better than the cake!

I've found that Christmas cakes take nowhere near as long as the old recipes, I'm sure it will be fine if it passes the skewer test and looks and feels cooked OP.

Probably due to fan ovens, a lot of recipes really need to be updated, not just because a lot of timings for things like large cakes being far too long, but also to move the first instruction to 'preheat your oven' down the list when it's before an extended amount of chopping, mixing, melting etc.

My oven heats up in about 5 minutes, so preheating at the start has it sitting empty for 20-30 minutes. If I'm making a cake, I probably don't switch it on until after I've done the eggs and all I have left to do is put the flour in and then the batter in the tins.

@BarbaraofSeville there was an article on the BBC website saying similar. The author was a recipe developer I think and her take was modern ovens don’t need pre heating and that pre heating time was more a way to standardise timings for writers.

I left mine in til baking time done then checked it expecting it to need a little longer. It didnt. And the edges looked very dark and round the top edges were hard but its well wrapped and being very well fed and they arent hard anymore so fingers crossed all is ok.