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Christmas cake faux pas

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Re: Christmas cake faux pas

Postby oat » Thu Oct 22, 2020 4:06 pm

I have a Neff circo therm oven and one day I might even learn how to use it properly! The instruction book that came with it differs to everything that I have been told about converting from conventional to fan. Had it two years now and still not confident with it, it may have to go.

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Re: Christmas cake faux pas

Postby Suelle » Thu Oct 22, 2020 4:17 pm

Hickybank wrote:
WolfGirl wrote:I’m reading this with interest. Will be trying this recipe for the first time and also have a fan oven with no option to turn the fan off.

I had no option either, so looks like I sould have baked at 120c not 140 as Delia.s book says
Also at least a double layer of baking parchment on the outside of the cake tin & top, keeping it from touching the cake mix
.


Just make a note for next year and stop worrying for now - you can't change the past.

If you're going to cover the cake with marzipan and icing, and are really worried about the outside edges being too dry, how about shaving them off with a knife or even a grater? However, I think if you wrap the cake and feed it well for the next 8 weeks, it will be fine by Christmas.
Traditional home baking, and more:
http://mainlybaking.blogspot.co.uk/

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Re: Christmas cake faux pas

Postby WolfGirl » Thu Oct 22, 2020 4:18 pm

Hickybank, I usually use a few sheets of newspaper doubled over around the outside of the tin so hopefully that should do. I did read about the parchment paper layer on the top which seems a good idea.
My DIL used the recipe last year and her cake was better than mine!! Hence me trying it this year. Think I will have a word before I bake mine.

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Re: Christmas cake faux pas

Postby Busybee » Thu Oct 22, 2020 4:25 pm

Hicky, I’m so surprised that you use the Delia recipe............I use your boiled fruitcake recipe with some additions of nuts, mixed peel and cherries, it’s the best fruit cake I’ve ever made. It even increased my standing at the WI, who thought it an excellent cake - Which from my WI is praise indeed.

I have made Delia’s in the past, but seriously your recipe is better!

BB

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Re: Christmas cake faux pas

Postby Pampy » Thu Oct 22, 2020 4:31 pm

oat wrote:I have a Neff circo therm oven and one day I might even learn how to use it properly! The instruction book that came with it differs to everything that I have been told about converting from conventional to fan. Had it two years now and still not confident with it, it may have to go.

I have 2 Neff circo therm ovens and haven't had any problems with either. When I first got them, I spoke to Neff to ask if circo therm was the same as fan and they said no - it's a different technology. How true that is, I don't know. I have to admit that I sometimes am baffled at which option to use, as there are so many so I end up having to read the manual yet again!

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Re: Christmas cake faux pas

Postby Stokey Sue » Thu Oct 22, 2020 5:08 pm

I have a double oven - one fan, one smaller convection oven. I'm quite pleased when recipes give the gas setting, as I can adapt that to either oven from experience but US recipe that just "cook at 350" without further details are really guesswork, as I've no idea whether a standard US domestic oven has a fan or not. I assume degrees Fahrenheit though not specifying sets my teeth on edge.

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Re: Christmas cake faux pas

Postby oat » Thu Oct 22, 2020 5:16 pm

No matter what the oven is I still can't make a pavlova. Anyone want six egg yolks :)

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Re: Christmas cake faux pas

Postby Hickybank » Thu Oct 22, 2020 5:23 pm

Pampy wrote:
oat wrote:I have a Neff circo therm oven and one day I might even learn how to use it properly! The instruction book that came with it differs to everything that I have been told about converting from conventional to fan. Had it two years now and still not confident with it, it may have to go.

I have 2 Neff circo therm ovens and haven't had any problems with either. When I first got them, I spoke to Neff to ask if circo therm was the same as fan and they said no - it's a different technology. How true that is, I don't know. I have to admit that I sometimes am baffled at which option to use, as there are so many so I end up having to read the manual yet again!

Thanks for that I must admit I did not give that a thought, noted for next year though
If anyone would like the recipe it is on Mamta,s website (fame at last)

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Re: Christmas cake faux pas

Postby aero280 » Thu Oct 22, 2020 5:58 pm

I'm a bit concerned now. I've tried some recipes from current newspapers and magazines and not all of them mention a fan oven. Are they old recipes reproduced? Or is there an assumption that all ovens these days have fans?

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Re: Christmas cake faux pas

Postby Hickybank » Thu Oct 22, 2020 6:37 pm

aero280 wrote:I'm a bit concerned now. I've tried some recipes from current newspapers and magazines and not all of them mention a fan oven. Are they old recipes reproduced? Or is there an assumption that all ovens these days have fans?

I thing almost all recipes are for conventional ovens.
Certainly Delia's classic Christmas cake is, although she doe's say it is over 20 ears old.
Unless the recipe specifically states it, I assume conventional.
Apart from this time when I forgot :evil: :evil:

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Re: Christmas cake faux pas

Postby Suffs » Thu Oct 22, 2020 6:42 pm

For Christmas cakes I fold a couple of sheets of newspaper so it’s at least 4 layers and so that it’ll wrap around the cake tin and be at least three inches taller than it and tie it round with string.

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Re: Christmas cake faux pas

Postby Stokey Sue » Thu Oct 22, 2020 8:25 pm

Mum (or possibly rather her Radiation cookbook) taught me to line the tin with greaseproof and to tie a few layers of brown paper round the outside - 60 years ago the amount of ink that cam off newspaper wasn't really appealing in the kitchen

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Re: Christmas cake faux pas

Postby karadekoolaid » Thu Oct 22, 2020 8:39 pm

Oat:
Anyone want six egg yolks :)

Yep. My dog! :gonzo
Perfect for making an hollandaise sauce (even though it´s a faff), or homemade mayo. We´ve all got time to spare thanks to Covid, so now is the time to do something new, perhaps.

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Re: Christmas cake faux pas

Postby jeral » Thu Oct 22, 2020 9:09 pm

"Egg yolks" to me screams egg nog, poor person's Advocaat. Also easy to lose egg yolks in soup or a spud etc hash fry, or egg fried rice, or use as a pastry glaze for savoury items, or mashed with mayo/paprika or salad cream for tuna spread...the possibilities are endless <- said in best emulation of lilting Eddie Izzard voice.

I'm following karadekoolaid's quote, so Oat's might have been a jokey question, yet strangely I feel a shitake mushroom omelette could be before me soon as not eaten yet :)

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Re: Christmas cake faux pas

Postby oat » Thu Oct 22, 2020 10:07 pm

wish I had a dog, it would have been living on egg yolks for the past three weeks. I am giving up on pavlova and meringues, the yolks will probably go in baked egg custards tomorrow, if I have any nutmeg

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Re: Christmas cake faux pas

Postby Earthmaiden » Thu Oct 22, 2020 11:09 pm

What goes wrong with your meringue, Oat?

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Re: Christmas cake faux pas

Postby Stokey Sue » Thu Oct 22, 2020 11:37 pm

We need to be neighbours Oat

I end up with frozen egg whites having used the yolks for mayonnaise, hollandaise, custards, ice cream, pasta carbonara - they might be good for pastel de nata - the Guardian recipe that starts this thread uses 8!

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4691&p=96052&hilit=nata#p96052

I end up using the egg whites for salt crust sometimes

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Re: Christmas cake faux pas

Postby oat » Fri Oct 23, 2020 8:41 am

Ideally I would like to make a meringue that could go into Eton mess type things, or shells that could be sandwiched together with cream. J loves pavlova but he wont be getting one unless it's from Asda! The eggs are really fresh, one or two days old and the mixture seems right, its glossy and has peaks. But they never cook in the middle, they are all too wet. I have followed delia, nigella, Mary and nadia recipes, watched you tube and changed oven temperatures, but the result is always a bin job. The whole thing looks good but underneath the crisp exterior the middle isn't chewy its wet. My oven manual says 90-100C for 90-120mins, it fibs.

J shouldn't be eating sweet things anyway :tongueout

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Re: Christmas cake faux pas

Postby Pepper Pig » Fri Oct 23, 2020 9:21 am

Egg yolks go into homemade ice cream here. I am terrible at meringue too but fortunately OH doesn't eat it.

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Re: Christmas cake faux pas

Postby Badger's Mate » Fri Oct 23, 2020 9:58 am

We've got a couple of Neff ovens, one with two Circotherm settings and the compact has got two Hot Air settings. Whatever Neff say, the air is heated by an element and distributed by a fan. I've found that the Circotherm cooks roughly the same as a convection temperature 20-25°C higher, but doesn't brown as quickly.

I do a Caribbean Christmas cake that's not dissimilar from Delia's Creole one. It gets well wrapped up before baking. The fruit is hitting the booze tonight. :D

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