My Christmas cake seems a little undercooked in the middle. Would a blast with a microwave sort it out??

[moondog]

Or is that a really thick thing to say??

I can cook but know next to nowt about cakes.

no - put it back in the oven for another 15 mins or so.

when you put a squewer in is there still cake mixture on it?

how long has it been in the oven for?

Skewer came out clean and the sides and top were burnt so had to shave 'em off. (Oven is shit but that is a whole other story)
31/2 to 4 hours it was in

i would put it back in the oven BUT cover with foil so the top doesn't get over done

never microwaved a cake - you coudl try it and report back

Righto.So, cover top and hope that heat will come in through base to middle yeah?

Microwave was my mother's idea. She is a great cook, althoguh not a microwave user.It seemed to make sense when one thinks about how quickly a pudding is done in a microwave as opposed to being steamed.

yes - try putting it on a pre-heated baking tray as well to get the heat from the bottom

Thanks. Will give it a whirl.

for future fruit cakes did you tie brown or newspaper round the outside of the tin? If you make a collar that stands 3" or so proud around the top of the tin it helps protect the top of the cake form burning while the middle is cooking. you want about 4 thicknesses of newspaper

I did that, but not that high so will remember it for next year,thanks.

No to microwaving
I;m asuming you want to eat your cake at xmas, if you microwave it then it will go wet and go bad quickly wouldnt be too terribly if you were to eat it now but oven is a better idea

Right. Thanks for that. Will tell mother tonight.

I've microwaved undercooked cakes in the past. It does kind of work (i.e. it makes them edible!), although with sponges you can see the difference in texture; you sometimes get a bit of a hole in the mixture. I think it would prob work quite well with a xmas cake mixture though, as it's denser and you don't need it to look evenly spongy iykwim.

Having the paper stand proud also helps the cake to rise, which is something I didn't know until recently.

How deos it help rise?
Do Christmas cakes rise anyway or should all cakes have such a collar?

haven't a clue how it helps but if I bother then somehow the cake rises better!

I think it might originally have been a Delia Smith tip in the 70s and I don't know how many times I've been told this by people who do seem to know what they're talking about. Mostly I don't do it, but will make the effort with a heavy type cake such as Xmas.

Right,putb it back in wreatheed in brown paper for 1/2 an hour and it does indeed look better.

Blimey. What a palaver.Back to buying one next year.