Doughy Christmas Cake

New Zealand Listener, Volume 12, Issue 287, 22 December 1944, Page 23

Doughy Christmas Cake

Dear Aunt Daisy, I made my Christmas cake a few days ago, and unfortunately did not cook it enough. The fruit did not sink, but it is very doughy in the centre. I could not get it back in the tin, so I wrapped it in greaseproof paper and then in two thicknesses of thick brown paper, and put it back in the oven the next day, for three hours. When I cut it again it was just exactly the same! Now, I used my usual recipe, except that I used half a pound of lard and half a pound of butter, so I am wondering if this is the trouble. I can use the outside for eating, but not the centre. Can you tell me how I can mix it into either |

a small cake or a pudding?-

M.

W.

(Eketahuna).

What a calamity, in these days of carefulness. I don’t think using halt lard caused the trouble. Perhaps you used too much rising, or cooked it too quickly, so that the outside rose and browned and cooked before the inside had time to do so. I think all you can do now is to make the doughy part into a pudding. Just mix it with a little flour-or even breadcrumbs — sufficient to absorb the stickiness. Do not add any more liquid — or at most, only a very little milk, just to make everything an even mix. Put into greased basin and steam like any boiled pudding, for 144 to 2 hours. Last year we had a letter from "Virginia," of Wanganui, who had a similar experience. She had even iced her cake! She overcame the difficulty by carefully removing the icing and putting it aside-then greasing the tin in which the cake had been cooked and putting the cake in again. Tying buttered paper firmly over the top, she then popped it into a big saucepan, and steamed it for 4 or 5 hours. The cake came out rich, dark, and delicious, and had its icing fitted om again. See that the water in the saucepan comes only half-way up the cake tin, |