The usual class is a fruit cake, and this can be easily over or under cooked, split topped or sunken centered. There is no excuse for using a different recipe or other size of tin from what the schedule demands, but cakes from the same recipe can vary enormously.
The commonest faults |
Suggested cure |
| Outside cooked too much whilst centre undercooked | Slower longer cooking at lower temperature. |
| Uneven fruit distribution | Mix with care. Mixture is too liquid, so fruit sinks. Some people dry the fruit first and coat it in dry flour before it is mixed in. |
| Cracked top – the ‘big smile’ cake | Slow even cooking – expand contents before top makes a crust that has to split under pressure from below. |
| Lack of honey flavour or smell | Use a good honey with a flavour that shows. |
| Burnt top | Cover the top of the cake with paper whilst cooking. This also helps with the cracking problem |
| Poor crumb structure – puddingy texture | Use only the best ingredients, flour in particular. |