Fruit Cakes

The creaming method is followed for many fruit cakes, particularly rich mixtures for festive occasions (for example a wedding or Christmas cake) in which the batter is no longer open-textured, but acts more as a binder for the other ingredients. Brown sugar, liquor and spices color many fruit cakes, but one variation has a white batter, golden raisins and candied pineapple.

Careful baking is important. Rich fruit cakes can take two hours or more to cook and the oven temperature must be kept low and steady. To avoid a dry crust, the pan may be lined with several layers of paper. If the cake starts to brown too quickly, it may be covered loosely with foil to deflect the heat. Testing when a fruit cake is done can be difficult: no batter should be visible when a skewer is drawn out of the center, but moist fruit may still leave a sticky film. For reliability, therefore, always insert the skewer at several different points.