Old recipe with 7 eggs - confused?

[Piesnkozla]

Hello! I have a recipe for a cherry cake with 7 eggs, to be baked for 2.5 hours?

It doesn't specify temperature and it's an old recipe, would this be correct for the number of eggs? It seems like a long time to me.

NB it maybe dates from ovens being less efficient? But I could be overthinking it

And if it's 7 eggs would that mean I should use plain flour and not self-raising? The recipe doesn't specify type of flour...

Thank you very much if anyone can help me!

What's the full recipe?

I’d use self raising flour. Bigger cakes take a while but that’s a long time. Make sure you line the tin and keep an eye on it. I’d try 180 degrees you can always use a skewer to see if it’s cooked.

Yeah if it's a cake it needs either self raising or add baking powder, maybe a teaspoon. Seven eggs sounds a lot but I guess it will be really rich and gooey. Sounds nice and interesting.

What temperature does it say? I'm guessing it's quite big. I would cook a cake on gas mark four or five. It does seem a long time but you should trust it.

If ots a fruitcake then the cooking time might be right? If it's a sponge with cherries probably not. Poat the recipe and we can try work it out?

It sounds like something the cook in Upstairs Downstairs would make by instinct in an uncontrolled oven !

With no temp quoted, I'd give it a miss rather than possibly waste a lot of money, time, & ingredients.

Can you post the whole recipe?

Sorry for not replying till today - here is the full recipe

Honestly? I’d be tempted to find a newer recipe. I’ve got some ancient recipe books and while fun to look at, I’m not tempted to make anything. Suspect you’d want a low ish temp. Maybe 150? I’ve just made my (Delia’s) Christmas cake and with 4 eggs and a lot of fruit that was 4.5 hours at 140. Your flour will be plain.

Here’s my Mums famous ( in our family) cherry Madeira cake - it’s baked at a low temperature 150 or gas 3 for 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours. Hope you can read her writing, in not I will try to type it up later

Thanks - yeah I do have some newer versions I can follow but I was quite intrigued by the 7 eggs thing...like a pp said I like the idea of it being rich.

Do you think if I followed this one instead but increased the eggs to 7, I should also increase cooking time? Any idea by how much? (again assuming it should be self-raising flour)

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/3 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
3 eggs separated
1 cup galce cherries
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp.almond extract
Halve the cherries,sprinkle with a little of the measured flour. Mix same as butter cake, folding stiffly beaten whites at the. Place cherries in layers on top of batter. Bake in loaf tin at 350 f. about 45 minutes.

Or I could just follow the above recipe or a different newer one exactly as is.

Haha yes I also get this vibe!

Hmm. The eggs from our hens back in the day were always quite small. Hens are being bred to lay larger eggs - often not good from a chicken welfare angle though. I would consider using seven small eggs, or maybe five medium ?

It looks to be a regular sponge with cherries added? The 7 eggs makes sense if you think they probably meant medium and the flour comes in at 284 grams. The baking for 2.5 hours i dont understand, but I do wonder if the tip to srop the cherries sinking works.

Thank you!

Okay, yes given 10oz flour, 7 eggs seems about right. The cooking time is due to the old fashioned range having unstable temperatures. The oven would have been at its hottest to begin with and gradually got cooler.
If I was baking this cake I’d start it on gas mark 4 for the first 30 mins then reduce heat to gas mark 3 for the remainder.
you can either follow the recipe exactly and use plain flour and baking powder, or use self raising flour. The beating of egg and flour helps ‘thicken’ the batter which should help reduce the cherries sinking to the bottom, and reduces the risk of the middle of the cake sinking, cutting up the cherries into small pieces also helps.
I grew up baking on an esse (more temperamental than an aga). The oven temperature was erratic (it heated the water so if anyone used hot water the temperature would dip, if it wasn’t riddled properly the temp would dip, if the wood wasn’t seasoned properly etc etc). Cakes like this would often sink in the middle, because I skipped the laborious process of whisking egg and flour! Still tasted good though! Old fashioned fruit cakes would bake for 12-15 hours in the ‘simmering’ oven.

This is an old recipe I have some of my nana’s recipe books some of which belonged to her mum ! Love looking through them.

i would say 7 eggs would be smaller than we use, so use medium and only add 6 and see how the batter looks add another if you think it needs it.

the flour will be plain - you are adding baking powder , sr flour has been about since late 1800 but most recipes still used plain flour and adding baking powder until about 1920’s the cook would just adjust if she wanted to use sr ( BeRo cook books still use plain flour unless stated )

use a deep well lined tin - tins were always lined including a paper hat to prevent scorching. I would set the oven to 160/180 and check after 1 1/2 hours

dont forget to wash your cherries and toss in flour

I buy mixed weight eggs and the variation is striking. Old recipes often seem to be egg-heavy, but they might depend on particular access to eggs. This is a useful website

www.egginfo.co.uk/egg-facts-and-figures/industry-information/egg-sizes

Also oven temperatures need to be adjusted for modern fan ovens, mine always seem a bit hot so things are done quicker, or I reduce slightly.