Cake Disasters

What Happenned To My Cake?

This is the first time baking this chocolate fruitcake (or any fruitcake for that matter).
When I got them out of the tin/s this morning (left overnight to cool in the tins) and turned them upside down they both have large dents in the bottom???
I torted one of them and they are cooked.

There was no baking soda or any other raising agents….eggs, flour, sugar, ground almond, mixed spice, marmalade, butter, melted chocolate, currants and raisins soaked in bourbon.

I made mud cakes, red velvets etc all the time using the same tins and oven settings and have never had this problem.

The top is level with no dome’ing so not sure what has happenned???

Anyone have any ideas on what could have caused this?

Thanks

Miriam, New Zealand http://www.facebook.com/CreatedandCapturedByMiriam

7 Replies

I have no idea what went wrong with your cake. Made a rich fruitcake last friday, and it turned out perfectly well. Made the recipe that is in Alan Dunn’s (uk) book of flowers. The pans I used was the same as allways, and it cooked for about 4 1/2 hours.
But it seems like I hade a tonn of fruit more than you in mine. Can that be a reason?

Elin, Norway, https://www.facebook.com/ElinsDesignkaker

I posted on a NZ forum and got this response from a fruitcake baker " Now I am wondering if your cake was rather ‘hot’ and when you left it in the tin to cool, did the cake ‘sweat’ causing a steam or moist air pocket that sucked the center up from the bottom causing the dent, as it cooled possibly quickly, our colder nights at present could have contributed as well, it would have set dented." Also she commented that the temp of 150C seemed a bit high for a fruitcake and also only using 1-2 layers of baking paper. So next time I will use newspaper instead and bake at a lower temp for longer.

Miriam, New Zealand http://www.facebook.com/CreatedandCapturedByMiriam

If this is your regular mud cake recipe with fruit added you might need to add more flour to compensate for the fruit. The dried fruit is very heavy and so extra flour is needed. When I bake my fruit cakes I like to add extra fruit but I always add extra flour. So If I double the fruit then I double the flour as well while leaving the other ingredients at the same ratio.

Lori-Ann,The Cake Studio Cayman,http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Cake-Studio-Cayman/136313133106508?ref=tn_tnmn

Hi Sugarpixy. It wasn’t an adapted recipe, it’s called a ‘Whisky and Raisin Celebration Cake’. I will attempt it again in a few weeks and hopefully have better success.

Miriam, New Zealand http://www.facebook.com/CreatedandCapturedByMiriam

Let us know how it turns out, it sounds very yummy!

Lori-Ann,The Cake Studio Cayman,http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Cake-Studio-Cayman/136313133106508?ref=tn_tnmn

I trimmed the edges of the cake and brushed with some of the alcohol I used in the cake. I then iced with dark chocolate and then fondant.
We had the cake yesterday and it was very nice. Still quite moist on the inside and delicious with the dark chocolate ganache.

Miriam, New Zealand http://www.facebook.com/CreatedandCapturedByMiriam