Christmas cakes in a gas oven - help needed

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

Last year was my first attempt at cooking a Christmas cake in a gas oven, it came out raw in the middle despite being baked for considerably longer than the required time and burnt on top.

The only reason I can think of is the temperature gradient that exists in a gas oven. I alway use a shelf thermometer to set the oven for baking rather than relying on the dial, but I know from using the thermometer that if I set the temperature correctly on the middle shelf, the temperature is about a gas mark higher on each of the next two higher shelves, it's fine for shallow things like sponge cakes but the depth of a Christmas cake is the problem.

Any other gas oven users out there got any tips?

Aha! Me too whoknows!

Last year this happened so i stuidly put in back in the oven out of the baking tin. And it collapsed

This year it happened (and I swear I followed the recipe to the letter) and eneded up putting in back in the tin in the oven three times! It was cooked for 9 hrs in all. And the second time I tested it it feel apart.... so had to be crammed back in the tin to bake some more. It is sitting in a cake time bandaged in baking parchment waiting to be glue back together with marzipan.

I have never yet had a problem and I've been baking my Christmas cake from the same recipe for over 30 years and with several different ovens. My ancient cake recipe gives a cake with an overall depth of about 2.5" no matter what the tin size, so you can bake several together. I use a very old recipe from the days when grams were horrid foreign things and ovens had wildly different temperatures, and I follow the same book's instructions on how to prepare a tin to prevent burning/uneven cooking.

I think the thing you need to do is to insulate your tin. The book says to double-line with greaseproof inside, and then wrap multiple layers of newspaper around the outside, tied with string. The Telegraph's excellent here, as it's full sized, though I did an 8" at the weekend with the Metro and it came out ok. Make sure there's at least 8, preferably more pages. I lay the pages out fully and fold in half lengthwise. Two lots wrap round the tin way more than once, like interlocking Cs.

Always make sure the cake mix is precisely in the centre of the oven. I always bake on gas 1 and inevitably it takes about 4.5 hours.

I can even pm you the recipe if you want...?

Well, I'm glad it's not just me!

Moonbells - I did insulate the tin, but not to that extent, probably only two sheets of newspaper, one of baking parchment. Our local paper is still large, so I could use that. If you wouldn't mind PM'ing me your recipe I would like to have a look, I prefer imperial recipes to metric, thank you.

I confess that I usually indulge in a Telegraph when I know I have a cake to do! I just have to make sure I read it afterwards or only use the sports sections for the tin!

Will type up recipe when I'm home and DS gives me a moment! But it goes from a 6" to 12" round (5" to 11" square) and it can easily manage double the listed brandy in the fruit and silly amounts once baked [hic]

Might have to attach a photo as formatting for massive table might go doolally.

Oh, I don't want to put you to too much trouble, let me go and check my tin and you could just give me that set of measurements

It's 8" round. I wouldn't be baking till next week, so no rush. If it's easier I could pm you my email address?

I only cook with gas and have never encountered this problem. All cakes should be baked on the middle shelf of a gas oven unless otherwise specified. I made the Delia smith recipe last year and she only gives an approximate cooking time. Mine did take as long as the longest time, but apparently it was a good cake. I say apparently because I don't care for Christmas cake and will be making a Yule log this year instead.

Are you using the correct size tin for the recipe? One of the golden rules of baking is always use the correct size tin.

Yes, it was the right size, although it was a new recipe that I hadn't tried before. I only do fruitcake at Christmas so not every experienced with them.

It's only the fifth year of baking Christmas cakes for me so I'm a comparitive novice! Respect, Moonbells ! You can tell if the cake is cooked by sticking a skewer into the middle of it (which takes longest to cook). If the skewer comes out clean, it's cooked. Also the top will be a bit cracked and it will be coming away from the sides of the tin. And it will be making a sizzling noise if you put your ear close to it. Good luck next time!

Una yes, thanks, I always check with a skewer, I checked this one several times until the skewer did come out clean. The top was cracked (burnt!). I have never listened to a cake though, will remember that!

OK, for an 8" diameter tin, prepared as discussed above!
currants 10oz
sultanas 7oz
raisins 4oz
glace cherries 2½oz
whole almonds (opt) 2½oz
mixed peel 2½oz
grated lemon rind 1
brandy (opt) 2 tblsp

Stick all the above in a bowl (lock and locks are perfect) and mix together. Leave at least overnight.

plain flour 7oz
mixed spice 1 tsp
ground nutmeg ½ tsp
ground almonds (opt) 2oz
Sieve flour and spices into another bowl then add ground almonds if used. Mix.

butter 6oz
soft brown sugar 6oz
Cream these together until pale and fluffy in yet another bowl and preferably with an electric beater (hope you have a dishwasher).
Beat in
black treacle (opt) 1 tblsp
if used.
eggs 4
Add eggs one at a time, beating in a little flour mix with every egg after the first. Once all eggs have been added, fold in half the remaining flour mix and half the fruit. Mix well. Add the rest of the flour and fruit, mix then put in the prepared tin. Smooth the mix with the back of a wet spoon.

Bake Gas 1, 290F or 140C on middle shelf for at least 3 hours, testing the cake every half an hour after 3 hours have passed. A cold, clean dry skewer should come out cleanly, and (tip!) the very edge of the cake should just be coming away from the baking parchment or greaseproof that the tin is lined with.

One rule I usually use is that when you get a clean skewer and you think it's just about done, give it another 30 minutes. You can always rehydrate it in a few weeks with a bit more brandy!

When out, leave in tin for 10 mins then turn out onto a wire rack. Leave to go completely cold, then wrap in double greaseproof and put in an airtight tin for at least a month before starting to feed with more brandy if desired!

After feeding, you'll need
Marzipan (8mm depth) 920g
Regalice (5mm depth) 700g
to decorate (plus a cake board). Sorry they're metric!

Good luck!

Oh BleurghUna I started early. I made my first family Christmas cake at 13 cos my mum makes fruitcakes sink. I can't make sponge cakes rise but she can. Go figure. But agree totally on the cake coming very very slightly (less than a mm) away from the sides of the tin, and the skewer! And I too use all senses except (dammit ) taste. Smell it too - you can tell if it's done that way, as well!

I use a Kenwood for bigger cakes but for an 8" you can use an electric whisk for most of it and switch to a wooden spoon for the fruit folding. Usually make 2-3 cakes a year. This year it was Mum's 80th so I had great fun with icing roses!

Oh forgot to say it costs about £20. Fondant icing and marzipan cost a fortune these days! Making royal icing and doing a swirly snow effect would probably knock off a few quid.

Thank you Moonbells, that's brilliant, so much detail. Putting me in a proper Christmas mood

I have been cooking the family recipe for nearly 30 years in a variety of ovens, and gas for the last 15 years. It always comes out fab Recipe is similar to moonbells, but obviously superior

I line the tin with 1 layer brown paper and 1 layer greaseproof

Moonbells that must be a Mumsnet record! Here
You're right about the cost of marzipan and icing, I spent £6 on marzipan yesterday and that was in Lidl!
I make 3 cakes every year for us and family members as Christmas presents. A few years ago I ran out of ideas for what to buy them and came up with the idea of Christmas cakes as presents. It's suprisingly expensive though, they must cost £20 each including icing and decorations. But still I'd rather do that and know they are going to be enjoyed than trawl around the shops not knowing what to buy.
The good thing was I had enough ingredients left over to make xmas puds so the puds were effectively "free". They are so time consuming though. Why on earth do they take 5 hours to steam?

bigTillyMint

BleurghUna I daren't start on Christmas puds! My husband would dearly like one that has all its fruit substituted for walnuts!!! (Which I'm slightly allergic to)

The trouble with making cakes is people find out and ask you for them. And if you're not inspected by the council then you can only legally make them for cost of ingredients (least that's what I was told by one sugarcraft teacher!) so I have a big spreadsheet with everything in for all sizes, and also a sheet with calculations in so I only have to put in the up to date cost per 500g of some currants, say and it works out how much eg 7oz costs.

I just copied the spreadsheet entry for 8" into here and added the instructions. [cheat!]

Now we have lost our poor elderly cat I'm going to get the H&S inspection done, so at least I can make them for a bit more. Every little helps!

moonbells, did you seriously think the council was going to come round and check whether you are charging the exact cost of each cake?

Still, with a H&S cert, you can turn it into a proper business

bigTillyMint when I was doing the course, they said anyone found unlicenced and making cakes for profit would be liable to a £2000 fine. I can only assume that's gone up since 2004...

I love playing about with maths so doing the sheet was fun. hey ho!

here is where my recipe comes from! Great book. I was pretty much brought up on recipes from it...

I was brought up on the Be-Ro cookbook, is the Stork one still in print? You sound a bit like me Moonbells I love a good spreadsheet too.

WhoKnows Be-Ro! Now there's a name I don't see very often. Mum can still get it back home (Derbyshire) but I've never seen it down where I live these days (just outside London).

The Stork book has been out of print for decades: Mum's copy is battered and in bits, and I used to try and sneak it out of her kitchen. Then one day I was at a second-hand furniture shop in S London which for some reason had a shelf of books... and one was just sitting there. Perfect condition. Quickest sale ever...

The semi-rich everyday fruit cake is really good, too. This is the one Mum used to get to sink spectacularly!

I learned to cook using one of these! It was my mums. I think she still has it!

You can still get the Be-Ro book, I updated my 20 year old one a couple of years ago. I'm in the South too, have never seen Be-Ro flour down here, but my Granny in Yorkshire always used it. That's a nice story about finding a copy of the Stork one!

Never had the Good Housekeeping one BigTillymint but I wouldn't be without
Delia.

I was also brought up in the 1970s with one of those weekly magazines of recipes that you keep in binders, my mum had about 5 volumes of one Good Cooking

This was my bible when I was learning to cook. Brilliant basic stuff we all need to know plus some truly hideous photos of food I still have it minus it's front cover.

But i learned to cook on an Aga and it has made other cookers difficult to use. I don't time things properly and just tend to use guesswork and intuition which usually works fine (but not always) and drives DH mad!

mmm thinking about stuff I grew up with, I'm now hankering after bread and butter pud...

I'm not keen on bread and butter pud, but I am on a thread about making crumpets at the moment, ummmm.

Love crumpets, though it does seem to me that these days the ones you buy just aren't a patch on the ones you used to be able to get. They're either soggy in the middle (despite being toasted within an inch of their lives on the outside) or don't seem to have any holes.

I once read making them was time-consuming and tricky, so well done if you're going to have a go!