Fruit at the bottom of my cakes

[bobloes]

Hi All

Every time I bake a cake, large or individual, with dried fruit, peel, nuts, chocolate chip or any ingredient the bits always drop to the bottom of the cake. I have tried boiling the fruit first, rolling it in flour, dropping it on top just before going in the oven all to no avail. Now I know it is possible to get it evenly distributed through the cake from top to bottom - but not for me! I do not do heavy duty Xmas type cakes and I am guessing that it may have to do with the density of the mixture but am somewhat shy of messing with the recipes form which I work. Does any one have a FOOLproof method (not necessarily a recipe) they could share with me?

Thanks
Bob

[suffolk]

It's not a problem that I have (that may be my famous last words) but my Grandma always said that a fruitcake mix should be really stiff.

[EmWilk]

The coating in flour thing always works for me. Are you coating them well enough maybe? I always put the bits and bobs into the sieve with the flour and find that the sifting action gives everything a good coating - 2 birds, 1 stone and all that.

Other than that, I'm sure more expert bakers will be along shortly to assist!

[Suelle]

I think your cake batter is too liquid, although if you are following recipes closely, that shouldn't be happening as the recipe writer should be aware of the sinking fruit problem. Perhaps you need better recipes, if they are not working.

Alternatively try leaving out a little of the liquid in the recipe and only adding it if necessary. If you are using a recipe where there is no added liquid apart from eggs, beat all the eggs together then add only about 80% of the total, only using the last bit if the batter is too stiff.

Cakes with bits in need a fairly stiff batter. It should hold it's shape on a spoon, but fall off the spoon if you try to get it off; you shouldn't need to take it off with another spoon. This is called 'dropping consistency'. If you do end up with a batter which is too sloppy, you could sift in extra flour, and fold in, about 1 tablespoon at a time, until it seems thick enough.

This doesn't always work though - I've followed recipes where I've expected bits to sink and they haven't and vice versa - I've been surprised when fruit sank. The risk with a thicker batter is making the cake too dry!

[aero280]

There is a risk with old family recipes, or even just older ones, that the flour you are using is different from the one the recipe was designed for.

Even modern flour varies a lot. If I use Allinson's strong white bread flour to make a loaf it's OK, If I use the same amount of water with Marriage's bread flour, the bread is softer and spreads across the tray and almost becomes a flatbread...

[Suelle]

Ovens are more efficient, too - many of my old cake recipes cook faster than they did in the 1970s.

Egg sizes have changed twice in my cooking lifetime - going from small/med/large to a number system, then back to small/med/large etc, but I don't know if the current large is the same as the old large.

The first recipes to swap from imperial to metric were very loose with their conversions - often 1oz = 25g was used for 'neatness' because people didn't have scales that were accurate to the degree that digital scales are now.

So there are lots of factors that can affect the success of older recipes.

[bobloes]

Thanks to all - I shall report back as and when.

[4dogsagain]

I hope that the falling fruit problem has been resolved. I am now using this recipe to make a quick cake, I often add dried fruit (as I did today) and spices, and the fruit has never fallen. I have made it as a plain cake, a chocolate cake, a coffee and pecan cake, a date a pecan cake, and a spice and fruit cake.

Put 315g in a large bowl, add 3 teasp baking powder and 200g sugar.
At this stage, you can mix in a cup or so of dried fruit.
In a jug melt 125g butter, then add 300ml milk and two eggs. Stir with a fork to break up the eggs then pour into the dry mix.
Mix with a wooden spoon until blended. It will be fairly stiff.
Tip into a 20cm square pan lined with baking paper, and bake at 180C (160C fan) for 30-40 minutes, until done.

It is so easy and quick, and the fruit will not sink!

[scullion]

[FoodMary]

I find that sifting a little of the flour (from the amount in the recipe) over the fruit and shaking so it is coated helps keep the fruit stable throughout the cake.

My sis always washes and dries her fruit and says it works too.

Mary J