Christmas cake - hints please?

[XAusted]

Calling all domestic goddesses...

OK, I've just said on another thread that I don't like Christmas but I still need to make a Christmas cake. (Yes, I know, should have made it weeks ago.)

I've made several in the past and they've been quite good except that I find by the time they're cooked right through the outside is a bit dark. Not quite burnt but browner than I'd like!

I always double line the tin and have even tried wrapping the tin in several layers of newspaper (somebody suggested it!) but to no avail.

Any suggestions would be gratefully tried out!

Ta.

Ice it !!

Good idea but dh and I both hate marzipan and icing so my cakes are always plain! Can't dust it with icing sugar as dh has thing about visible sugar and would disapprove.

Cover it with nuts a la Dundee cake?

Your oven is probably too hot, cook it at a lower heat for a bit longer if need be.

Like the nuts idea. Might try it.

Buy one, M&S make lovely cakes that you can ice yourself. I don't see the point in getting all stressed about the cake thing, anyway a shop bought one will taste far better than anything I could make. I've gone for a Tesco Yule log (99p!)as I'm the only one in the house that eats fruit cake.

XAusted I double line the tin with greaseproof paper (bottom and sides. Then around the outside of the tin I have a double thickness of brown paper - this is a tube that slides over my round tin that I concocted a few years ago (its stapled together) and I just keep it flat on the shelf under my cake tins. its 2or 3 times the height of the tin and then I lay another piece of brown paper on top of this. The only other tip is to cook the cake at a lower temp for longer.

Along with the nuts as decoration you could cover it with glazed fruits such as apricots. Never tried this myself because DH and I love marzipan and icing so our cake is always plastered....

Or you could do as my DS wanted - and microwave it. Thats a sure way to get an anemic cake

Damn! Lollypop posted my idea first. Buy an un-iced one, feed it with copious amounts of brandy and ice it so it looks homemade. No one will know.

I cook my 9 inch one for about 7 hours but in gas mark 3. I check it after about 6 hours and this year it just needed another 15 mins till a skewer poked in it, comes out clean.

Xausted, a good tip if you can be bothered is to buy proper candied fruit and cut it into bits rather than using standard candied peel. It won't help the browning issue but should make the cvakOur health food shop sells some really good stuff (health food? I know, they also have the most amazing selection of chocolates for Christmas too, bizzarely).

the cvak? Should read: the cake taste delicious.

If you can get hold of a copy of last month,s Good Food magazine there is a really good cake recipe in there where you cook the fruit first so it needs less cooking time,I have made two as I had to use on efor MIL birthday and it tasted fine after only a week!

Another christmas cake question:- why does my cake always crack and split on the top? I ice it anyway but its a bit of a nuisance. I always leave a hollow in the middle so that it doesn't rise too much in the centre but still get a slightly risen, cracked bit.

Probably too much flour or again, a too hot oven. Using a fan oven can do this too.

I'll ask my man in Tesco as the one I get from there is always great

Thanks for the suggestions! I have now mixed my cake (with the enthusiastic assistance of ds). Now have to cook it. Will try wrapping with copious brown paper and cooking on low temp (if I can convert gas mark 3 into centigrade). I know it would be easier (and cheaper, probably) to buy one but it's never quite the same ...

Crystaltips - a woman of my own heart - I buy the Finest uniced one - then I can ice it myself and it looks homemade!!
Anyone else cheat at this sort of thing? To be honest with working full time with two kids i find it enough of a struggle fitting everything in but I feel I still want to take homemade cakes etc. to the Christmas Fayre etc. etc. How does everyone find time to do all of this stuff?

Buy one, sprinkle flour over it, say it's homemade!

turn it upside down to ice it it then looks perfect.