Agalinks Cookery Doctor - Fruit Cake Too Wet in the Middle

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Fruit Cake Too Wet in the Middle

Question

Dear Richard I have just baked a cake with nuts and raisons. First I put it in for 70 minutes on the floor of the baking oven; then I left it for another 120 minutes in the simmering oven. The inside should be less wet. How can I improve the result? I`ve been thinking of baking it only in the simmering oven for a much longer time, but I think that it won`t get a nice brown colour this way. Please help me, because I have to bake another one for the yearly Aga Owners Club meeting in the Netherlands. Thanks very much Liesbeth Noordermeer

Answer

Dear Liesbeth

FRUIT CAKE TOO WET IN THE MIDDLE

I am sorry to hear that you are having problems. For large, rich fruit cakes I prefer long, slow cooking in the Aga Simmering Oven. It does give perfect results, including a good brown finish and a textbook flat top. Here are the timings from The Aga Book by Mary Berry:

2, 3 and 4 oven Aga Cookers

Simmering Oven: place the cake tin on the grid shelf (or a rack) on the floor of the oven. The cooking time required will be between the minimum and maximum times shown below. The times do vary as sometimes older Aga cookers have slower Simmering Ovens, look at the cake after the minimum time shown to gauge further cooking time.

ROUND TIN SQUARE TIN COOKING TIME
7 inch (18cm) 6 inch (15cm) 4 - 8 hours
8 inch (20cm) 7 inch (18cm) 4 - 10 hours
9 inch (23cm) 8 inch (20cm) 4 1/2 - 11 hours
10 inch (25cm) 9 inch (23cm) 4 1/2 - 12 hours
11 inch (28cm) 10 inch (25cm) 5 - 13 hours
12 inch (30cm) 11 inch (28cm) 5 1/2 - 14 hours
13 inch (33cm) 12 inch (30cm) 5 1/2 - 15 hours

To check when the cake is done: pierce through the centre of the cake with a warm skewer. If it comes out clean, then cake is cooked. If not, cook for a further 30 minutes or so. Leave to cool in the tin.

THE AGA COOKERY DOCTOR`S SOGGY CAKE TROUBLE-SHOOTING TIPS

A close damp texture can be caused by the following reasons, depending on recipe type:

Cakes made by the Creaming Method:

Having the mixture too slack before cooking, caused by too much liquid, too little flour or too much sugar: check the proportions
If using golden syrup or black treacle, measure accurately: dip a spoon into boiling water before measuring makes this easy
Having the fat and sugar insufficiently creamed together before the eggs are gradually added can cause this problem
If soaking dried fruits with alcohol, consider holding 20 percent back to use to "feed" the cake after it is perfectly cooked

Cakes made by the Whisking Method:

Ingredients not measured accurately: take care when measuring carefully
Insufficient whisking before introducing the flour: the whisked eggs and sugar should have at least doubled in volume, and you should be able to make a trail in the mixture from what falls off the whisk when it is removed
Sifted flour not folded in correctly: a metal tablespoon should be used with a gentle and light "cutting" action
Oven too hot: choose a lower position in the oven and/or use a cold plain shelf on the second set of runners above to cut off "top heat". With 3 and 4 oven Aga cookers, use the Baking Oven for all cakes requiring more than 10 minutes cooking time
Insufficient cooking - increase cooking time

Cakes made by the All-In-One Method:

Having the mixture too slack before cooking, caused by too much liquid, too little flour or too much sugar: check the proportions
Insufficient cooking - increase cooking time

I hope that helps!

Best Wishes

Richard Maggs
THE AGA COOKERY DOCTOR

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