Well, I’ve finally bitten the bullet and started making my wedding cake. On Sunday I set out to make the bottom tier – an epically huge 12 inch square fruit cake, using Delia Smith’s Rich Fruit Cake recipe.(NB this link appears to have gone – try this from the WayBack machine internet archive or use this pdf that I’ve created)
SEE NOTES BELOW ON USING UNUSUAL SHAPED TINS OR A HUGE 12 INCH ROUND CAKE
The helpful “scaling up the fruit cake recipe” guide on her website only goes up to a 10 inch square cake, so I had to do some maths to scale it up to my 12″ square cake tin. To help all you other bakers out there who suck as badly at maths as I do (although I have a PhD, numbers are definitely not my forte) here’s the proportions of ingredients I used:
- Currants 1.35kg
- Sultanas 525g
- Raisins 525g
- (or just use 2.4kg mixed dried fruit)
- Glacé cherries, finely chopped 165g
- Mixed peel, finely chopped 165g
- Brandy 9 tablespoons (well, plus a few sloshes more to be honest…)
- Plain flour 675g
- Salt 3/4 level teaspoon
- Freshly grated nutmeg 3/4 level teaspoon (I used ground)
- Mixed spice 1.5 level teaspoon
- Almonds, chopped 165g (I left these out)
- Soft brown sugar 675g
- Black treacle 2 ¼ tablespoons
- Unsalted butter 675g
- 12 eggs
- Grated rind of 3 large lemons
- Grated rind of 3 large oranges
After the sums, the next challenge was working out how to make the damn thing. Just soaking the dried fruit took up the biggest mixing bowl I own:
I started by getting everything ready. There was a *lot* of butter:
I put my trusy Kenwood Chef Titanium to work, creaming the butter and sugar, then blending in the eggs and flour. In the end, it was starting to curdle just with the eggs, so I alternated eggs and flour until I’d managed to squeeze everything in. Luckily it did look like proper cake batter at this point, which was reassuring.
Then I had a problem – how to mix in the fruit. I ended up using my huge old stockpot as an improvised mixing bowl. I’m pretty glad that it escaped the last kitchen clearout now, as it’s no good for cooking because the enamel is cracked.
I’m only little, so to get enough power to mix everything in I had to put it on the floor and use a peculiar rowing motion with the spoon, more like mixing cement than cake.
Then it was time to scoop it all into the tin (not an easy task either) and bung it in the oven. I tied some newspaper round the tin and covered the top with greaseproof paper, to help prevent it from cooking too fast. {Edited to add – as Saint Delia recommends, I cooked it at 140C. Actually I set the oven a bit lower than that as I have an over-enthusiastic fan oven. The sensible thing to do would be to use an oven thermometer to check yours, unless you know it well}
Four and a half hours later, I tested it with a skewer and declared it done:
I sprinkled a bit more brandy over it, left it to cool and then wrapped it up in greaseproof paper, cling film and tinfoil and put it where the mice can’t get it. Phew!
Edited to add: In response to comments, I’ve worked out the proportions for a 12 inch ROUND Delia fruit cake. These haven’t been checked or tested! This is based on the volume of a 12 inch round cake being approximately 1.25 times the volume of an 11 inch round fruit cake (the largest on the Delia website). Bear in mind this is a bit of an over-calculation. The correct proportions would come out a bit smaller but I’ve done it like this to end up with a whole number of eggs. So you may have batter left over.
- Currants 1.125kg
- Sultanas 440g
- Raisins 440g
- Glace cherries 140g
- Mixed peel 140g
- Brandy 7.5
- Plain flour 560g
- Salt ½ level teaspoon
- Grated Nutmeg 2/3 tsp
- Mixed spice 1 and ¼ tsp
- Chopped almonds 140g
- Soft brown sugar 560g
- Black treacle 2 tablespoons
- Unsalted butter 560g
- 10 eggs
- Grated rind of 2 large lemons
- Grated rind of 2 large oranges
Someone also asked about using a heart-shaped tin. Because it’s all done on volume you’ll need to measure the volume of your tin using water. Fill your cake tin with water, to the same level that you’d fill it with cake mixture, then measure how much water you’ve got (in millilitres). One ml of water is one cubic centimetre, if I remember correctly. NB Do this over the sink, unless you want your kitchen to be as wet as mine now is.
I just tested and my 8inch x 8 inch square cake contains roughly 2,000 ml, by way of comparison. So then you need to work out proportionally how much bigger or smaller your heart-shaped tin is, and scale up or down the recipe accordingly.
Based on the number of eggs in the recipe, I’d suggest the following:
Tin volume 2,000ml (2 litres) – use the 9 inch round/ inch square recipe (5 eggs)
Tin volume 1,600 ml (1.6 litres) – use the 8 inch round/7 inch square recipe (4 eggs)
Tin volume 800ml (0.8 litre) – use the 6 inch round/5 inch square recipe (2 eggs)gs)
I don’t suppose you can send a piece to Washington DC when its ready? (I miss christmas and wedding cakes from the UK. In the US a wedding cake is a sponge cake and I can assure you, its not the same).
Its looking good. You should add more brandy every 4 days.
Cheers Paul 🙂 I’m not sure that US customs would let it in! I am aiming to feed it regularly, so it should be good and boozy for the big day. Watch this space for the decoration!
Interesting scaling connundrum – presumably to sort out the increase in area you’d have need to use π! Using π. For a cake! Ha!
(Sorry)
There have definitely been some pi-related cake calculations going on. It tickled me immensely 🙂
Hi There,
How did your cake turn out (looked good to me) because I will be making a 12inch Round and a 12inch square fruit wedding cake this year, I noticed that you made a 12inch square and Delia’s recipe only gives you certain recipe sizes. I was going to use the ‘Cake-o-meter’ to scale up and down the recipe this. Could you please help me out with this.
Thanks
Caroline
Hi Caroline,
the cake turned out brilliantly and was delicious. The proportions for the Delia recipe that I’ve put in my blog post will work for a 12 inch square cake. I’m not sure about a 12 inch round one – the recipes on her website only go up to a 11 inch round cake: http://www.deliaonline.com/how-to-cook/baking/scaling-up-cake-recipes.html.
To scale it up to a 12 inch round cake you need to work out the ratio in volume – doing a rough calculation. a 12 inch round cake is almost 1.2 times bigger than an 11 inch one. To get a neat number of eggs, I’d multiply everything in the 11 inch round cake recipe by 1.25 (ie 10 eggs rather than 8) and do the sums for all the other ingredients. Does that make sense?
Good luck!
Kat
Hi Kat,
Thanks for getting back to me. Your cake looked good so i thought it would have tasted great too. I shall try to do the maths and give it a go.
Thanks for your help.
Caroline x
I can report that the cake *still* tastes good at the end of May. Yum yum!
Been searching for quantities for 12 inch square cake and this is perfect – thanks for sharing your calculations! (oh and the picture of all the dried fruit made me smile! – will have to go in search of the largest bowl I can find!)
My pleasure – I searched for ages and eventually just had to suck it up and do the maths. Hope yours turns out beautifully
thank you thank you thank you kat! Just wanted to ask how often you feed the cake brandy (i.e. how much do you think you use and how often over what timescale?) would really like to do this before august bank holiday when my wedding cake is due, never done fruit before so im a bit scared!!! Thanks Linsey
Hi Linsey, I fed my cake roughly once a week-10 days I think, over roughly a month. I just stabbed it all over with a skewer and then poured some brandy over. I’m not sure exactly how much as I just sprinkled from the bottle – maybe 25ml or so? (ie a shot). Good luck!
Hi thank you so much for this, you helped me heaps. i made my best friends wedding cake and all layers were different. you fruit layer flew off the table when it was cut, the compliments were amazing. definitely use this again and again. your a star. xxxx
Yay! I’m so glad it worked out well for you 🙂
I am about to use the Delia recipe for my son’s wedding cake bottom layer and I need it to be 12″ round, have ordered the tin from my local cake decs shop now need to get the proportions right…….will use pi calculations, at last a reason to have learnt the volume of a circle all those years ago!
Good luck with it! Make sure you have a REALLY big bowl…
Hi Anne
I am struggling with a 12″ round fruit cake – my maths is non existence and “pi” – well I thought that was something with a crust that shows my knowledge (or lack of…!) Are you able to let me have your recipe for the 12″ round with the proportions you used – how was the cake you made? I am making a four tier wedding cake for a friend and have made the top which is a 6″ round using Delia’s recipe – then the two middles are a chocolate and lemon sponge and the bottom the bit 12″ fruit – help!
Kath
Hi Kath, if I get a minute at the weekend I’ll try and give it a go for you.
Kat
Hi Kath – I’ve updated the post with proportions that I think are right for a 12″ round fruit cake. Hope it works…
Hi Kath, your cake looks fab so I’m going to use your scaled up quantity for a 12″ round cake. It’s for my Aunt’s 90th Birthday party – she doesn’t like sponge cake but loves fruit cake. I’ve used Delia’s recipe before for my Christmas cake so I know it tastes good but just wanted to check what oven temperature you used? Also, I’ve usually made my Christmas cake in October so it has plenty of time to mature, but the party is only 2 weeks away! Do you think it will be okay?
Hi Anne,
Sorry for not replying sooner. I’m afraid I can’t quite remember what oven temperature I used, and every oven is different. It’s probably similar to the recommendation in Delia’s original recipe though.
Kat
Hi I was so relieved to find your recipe online, I’m making a 12″ square wedding cake on Friday for my wedding and this is just perfect, did you make you own marzipan too, I did this at Christmas for my Christmas cake (Delia’s) recipe, but haven’t got measurements for marzipan ink a 12″ square cake, do you happen to have these ?
Kind regards, Adrienne
Hi Adrienne,
I’m glad my recipe is useful! I didn’t make my own marzipan – that was a bridge too far. I just bought a whole load for all three cakes from Waitrose, so I don’t know how much a 12 inch cake would need, sorry.
Kat
Hi could u tell me what temperature u cooked the cake at .
Hi Sarah, as recommended in Delia’s recipe, I cooked it at about 140C (actually very slightly lower as I have a fan oven) http://www.deliaonline.com/how-to-cook/baking/scaling-up-cake-recipes.html
I had to resort to mixing in in a washing up bowl (clean of course)
Thanks for this….I will be attempting tonight!!! for the bottom tier of an ordination cake….i need it in 2 weeks so not much time to feed…but hopefully it will be ok!!
Hi Kat, i’m so pleased i have come across your blog, i have been asked to do a 12″ square fruit for a wedding on 1st oct, how far in advance should i make the cake please, thank you Wendy.
Hi Wendy, you can make the cake a couple of months in advance and feed it every week or fortnight with a little more brandy. It does need some time to mature, and the longer the better. I made a fruit cake recently for a wedding just one month in advance and fed it every week, and it turned out just fine, but usually I’d make it around 2 months in advance.
Kat I am thinking of doing my own cake but my only experience is a christmas cake which is always successful according to everyone. Do you have any further details/advice about any other tiers or any other pictures. Also is you are to be married in mid august when would you begin??? all advice appreciated I am a bit nervous
Just go for it! There’s lots of advice on the internet about how to stack tiers – you need to have the base tier on a thick board, then each tier above on a thin board, and use plastic or wooden dowels in each supporting tier to bear the weight of the tiers above:
http://thedaintybaker.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/how-to-assemble-tiered-cake.html
In terms of timing, it depends what kind of cakes you’re doing. For rich fruit cake, you could start 6 weeks before, or even longer, if you’re going to feed the cake with brandy or whisky and let it mature. Then assemble a couple of days in advance. For chocolate or sponge cake, you can only make them a day or two in advance, which can make it a bit stressful with all the decorating too.
could you just do the mixture for two 6inch tins?
Hi Jane, it’s all about the volume rather than the tin diameter, as Delia explains on her scaling page. Two batches of the 6-inch tin micture would not nearly be enough in terms of volume for a 12-inch cake, as the tin is much more than two times the size.
Thanks for this, I am about to make my Christmas Cakes for a hotel in St Ives Cornwall. I was searching for 12 inch quantities and stumbled across your blog. All my questions answered. Thank you
Glad I could help!
Hi kat
I’m making 12″ round cake, but my suggestion is make enough mix for 12″ square, then have a bit left over to make a taster cake! Yum!
Sue
Thank you everyone I am just about to start a 3 tiered cake for my daughters wedding in May I have found a very useful site kitchencookshop.co.uk shows scaled up fruit and sponge also oven temps and amounts of Marzipan
Well, spent the day following your recipe and it’s in the oven in an 11″ round tin, with enough to spare that I have also put a 6″ tin in too. See it in about three and a half hours. Exciting! It’s the first trial for the base tier of my best friends’ wedding.cake. Thanks for your mathematics. The uncooked ‘scrapings’ from the bowl were so delish and my Jack Russell helped me to clean the bowl out afterwards…like having another child. Will let you know how it turns out x
Oh my God…it’s the best fruit cake. Not too sweet, lovely and moist, not crumbly, but not stodgy either. About an hour and a half before it finished I had to cover the top with foil to stop it getting brown, but otherwise, that recipe and instructions was perfect. Top class…well done and thank you x
We made this cake yesterday as the bottom tier of our wedding cake and it turned out brilliant, better than we could have expected. Will tell you what it tastes like in September! Thanks, looked for a 12″ fruit cake recipe everywhere.
Hi. This is a VERY helpful column and thanks for all the advice. I am soon to make a 3 tier fruit cake for a work colleagues’s wedding. I would really like to know how deep each tier is as that would effect the decorating I have in mind. Many thanks.
Hi looking forward to trying this recipe.could I ask please how deep the cake turns out x
Jen and Samantha – I think it came out about 4 inches deep but I can’t really remember.
Sue – I’m not sure, as I always get way more than I need.
How much masipan and fondent iceing will I need . Thanks
I am making a three tier hexagon wedding cake 12″, 10″ and 8″. Would the amounts therefore be for round or square cakes? Thanks , Liz
Hi Liz,
I have no idea – i can only assume they might be somewhere in between. Sorry, kat
I have just made this cake but it does not appear to have risen very much.
Any suggestions why?
Hi Catherine, It really doesn’t rise much. The rich fruit cake is very solid rather than light, in my experience.
I’m making a 12” round cake today for the bottom layer of my son’s wedding cake for July 10th. I shall be away for a few weeks April/May. Do I need to feed it every week, or just for the first few weeks. Wil ot keep that long without freezing it?
I’m sure it’ll be fine! Probably doesn’t need feeding for months and months on end I reckon. They do keep for ages and just mature and get tastier, as long as it’s well wrapped and in a cool dry place. I wrap in greasproof paper, then tin foil then cling film. Good luck.
Hi there, thanks for this wonderful blog. The 12″ round recipe for my wedding cake looks perfect but I can’t tell from the blog if it has been tried and tested yet? Did it work ok? All the different websites with different scalings are confusing – I’d like to make the delia one!
Hi Annalise, I’ve never tried the 12 inch round cake, only the square one. Sorry 😦
Thanks – I was just wondering if anyone else had since you put up the recipe.
Hi Kat
I’ve only just seen your reply, thanks for that. I have already wrapped it in non-stick baking paper, foil and cling film. I assume silicone paper will be as good as using greaseproof, I don’t buy greaseproof any more.
Annalise
I made the 12” round fruit wedding cake from the BBC Food website, it came out lovely, and the quantities were spot on.It was a bit tricky stopping it curdling, but adding some flour at that point with each addition of egg did the trick.
Hi Kat, just to let you all know that I made a 12″ round cake with your scaled-up recipe today and it has come out brilliantly! It is just over 3″ tall. I cooked it at 130oC fan assisted for the 1st 1.5hr and then turned the oven down slightly to 120oC (because I was nervous of the edges burning) for another 3.5hr. Total 5 hours – although the last half hour of that, although the skewer was coming out clean, it just didn’t seem quite done. I had gone overboard with lining the tin etc – 2 layers of greaseproof lining tin bottom and sides and then 6 layers of newspaper round the outside. Covered it with a double sheet of greaseproof on top (with a hole in) as Delia does, and, for what it was worth, I also decided to sit it on a couple of sheets in the oven – because I read that that is the hardest bit to protect – probably all over kill but didn’t want to mess it up. My other advice was I bought a cheap washing up bowl and did all the mixing in that – worked a treat because mixture would have been flying everywhere otherwise and it was also nice and light for lifting to get mixture into the tin! Didn’t need to use the rowing motion though:) Also couldn’t have creamed the butter and sugar without an electric whisk – it would have driven me insane!
So it is just cooling in the tin now so thanks for all the info and advice – and thanks JoJo for the ideas. And for anyone googling upscaling of delia’s fruit cake to 12″ round (which is where I started) this recipe is a goer!
Hi I would really appreciate a Delia wedding cake recipe for a 17 inch wedding fruit cake I have searched and searched. many thanks
Hi Sally – are you after a round or square 17inch cake? It should be possible to do the maths, but it might be very difficult to make!
Hi Sally, The rule of thumb is the recipe quantity for a round cake is the same as a square one 1” smaller. ie: a 12” round cake will use the same recipe quantities as an 11” square one. As far as making a 17” cake, do you have an oven plenty big enough, and someone strong enough to lift it in and out of the oven? I was advised by a professional that if I made a 14” cake, by the time I had decorated it I would be barely able to lift it, which is why I re-thought the plan and made a 12” base cake. A 17” cake is probably 1 1/2 times the weight of a 14” one. Also, if it is nearly touching the sides of the oven it won’t cook evenly, and if the paper round the tin actually touches the side of the oven it could catch fire. Having said that, I have never made one that big, so may be being over cautious, hopefully someone on-line has made one and can advise you from personal experience. Good luck with it.
Hugely entertaining account of making “the thing”! I’m used to most of this, though it has been some while now.
I’m planning well in advance for an event in late September (2015) but believe in feeding lots of brandy, so need a couple of months before the professional decorators take over.
The scaling up is most helpful as I’m aiming for a single 12″ square cake. I can see that my biggest Le Cruset casserole might just be big enough in which to assemble the mixture, otherwise it will have to be the cement mixer…
Thanks to you and everyone for all the helpful remarks !
Hi Kat
I was very pleased to find your 12 inch round scaled up recipe for Deliah’s Christmas cake – what a lifesaver!! And it works perfectly so thank you!
Thank you so much for this article! Volunteered to make my nieces wedding cake, the bottom their was a 12 inch fruit. Went brilliantly with your advice & recipe. Thanks again!
Help please Kat any idea what do I use for an 8 inch heart shape cake.
Hi Noella,
I’m afraid I have no idea. It would all be based on volume though. One way to do this would be to fill your cake tin with water, to the same level that you’d fill it with cake mixture, then measure how much water you’ve got (in millilitress). one ml of water is one cubic centimetre, if I remember correctly. NB Do this over the sink, unless you want your kitchen to be as wet as mine now is.
I just tested and my 8inch x 8 inch square cake contains roughly 2,000 ml, by way of comparison. So then you need to work out proportionally how much bigger or smaller your heart-shaped tin is, and scale up or down the recipe accordingly.
Based on the number of eggs in the recipe, I’d suggest the following:
Tin volume 2,000ml (2 litres) – use the 9 inch round/ inch square recipe (5 eggs)
Tin volume 1,600 ml (1.6 litres) – use the 8 inch round/7 inch square recipe (4 eggs)
Tin volume 800ml (0.8 litre) – use the 6 inch round/5 inch square recipe (2 eggs)
Hope that is helpful!
Hi Kate
Thank you very much very useful tips the measurement of my tin is for the 4 eggs recipe. Filling the tin with water over the sink so helpful thanks.
Glad it was useful and I really hope it works out for you 🙂
I’m making my own wedding cake and in order to make enough for my 12″ round tin, I’ve used the measurements for 2 x 9″ cakes using Delia’s recipe.
The fruits are soaking in brandy now, but I was having a bit of a panic, so seeing that your calculations work out the same as my hopeful guess have reassured me no end!
I’m planning on using my preserving pan to mix the whole lot together. Fingers crossed!
Good luck!
Silly question probably, but the brandy that the fruit is soaked in, does that get drained off or put in the cake? I noticed you added a few “extra sloshes”, which made me question this, as it would affect moisture content if put in the cake wouldn’t it? Thanks!
I didn’t put too much extra in, but it pretty much all gets absorbed by the fruit anyway. I chuck the whole lot in.
Thank you for this recipe. Everything went to plan, looked perfect when I took it out of oven, and put it on wire rack to cool. Unfortunately when I tried to lift it to wrap up, it broke into three pieces!! Was this because it wasn’t cool enough, too much brandy or other reason? I want to make a wedding cake so will cover this with marzipan and icing for Christmas but don’t want same thing to happen with the ‘real’ cake! Advice much appreciated. Thanks.
I’m sorry I have no advice. I always wait till my cakes are really cool before I move them, and handle them very carefully – usually with something flat underneath to support the weight if they’re big.
Thank you so much for all the hard work scaling the recipe up to 12″ square. I’m making a cake for my Dad’s 80th. I started with the recipe that was used for my parents’ wedding cake in 1962, because it’s not as dark as most fruit cakes, which Dad prefers. It uses golden caster instead of brown sugar and golden syrup instead of treacle. So, I’ve adapted the Delia with those two changes and now I have my fingers well and truly crossed that it works!
Good luck!
Hi Kat Found your blog really informative and enjoyed reading everything. Could you tell me if its preferable to use dark brown sugar or just brown sugar . Thankyou
I think I used dark brown but I can’t really remember, sorry. i think either is fine, it just depends on your preference. Good luck!
I made a 12-incher recently using the Delia recipe but substituting golden caster sugar for the dark sugar, and golden syrup for the treacle. I liked the result: you can actually see the golden cake surrounding the fruit, and it doesn’t feel as ‘slabby’ as the conventional recipe. At the creaming stage I felt I got more air in using the lighter sugar. A fruit cake doesn’t really rise; it’s too heavy, but the texture was lighter using those substitutions. Hope that helps!
So happy to have found this blog. Who knew there were clever people out there who could calculate volume for big cakes! I’m just going to make my wedding cake in a 12″ square tin. Thank you Kat!
Thanks so much for working this recipe out.
I just baked this as a 12 inch square, again as a bottom tier for wedding cake.
The quantities were spot on but the time til cooked was 6 hours and 20 minutes.
Am really delighted with the result.
Shall start to feed it now with oodles more brandy.
Cheers!
Hi I am using your very kind scaling up for a 12″ Roy d cake and wondered what the depth of your tin is ? I need the recipe to be at least 4 inches deep ….. I hope you can answer my question this is my first request for a fruit wedding cake I have had all sponge before xxxx
Hi Victoria – I’m afraid I can’t remember exactly how deep it was, but my cake tin is only 3.5 inches high, so it must have been less than that
It fitted my 3.5″ high round tin perfectly. If you want a 4″ deep cake then make the 12″ square recipe…xxx
Hi I’m making the first tier of my daughter wedding cake 12″ round fruit cake I would normally soak the fruit in brandy overnight but have been heard that it is better to soak the fruit for about 2 weeks. I wondered how long you soaked your fruit for.
I’ve usually done it overnight or a couple of days. I’m not sure it really matters how long, just that it soaks up the booze.
I have just taken a 12″ round out of the oven. The recipe fitted the tin perfectly. Thank you so much for your help…🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂
The 12″ round recipe filled my 3″ deep tin to the top. Perfectly scaled up. Thank you 😁😁😁😁
Glad it worked! Hope it tastes delicious 🙂
How high did this bake? I’m looking for a 12 inch round recipe but I like my wedding cake tiers to be nearly 3.5- 4 inch high 🙂 thank you x
I baked this recipe at 12″ square and it stood just under 3″ high after baking.
Looks great! I was just wondering what height the cake usually comes out at? If I wanted to cook the cake mixture in separate layers could I halve the recipe and layer the two cakes with jam?
I can’t remember exactly, but at least 3 inches
I’ve just made this, it turned out beautifully. Thanks for working out all the quantities xx
Yay! So happy for you 🙂
Just made a 12″ round cake using your scaling up – turned out perfect – thanks so much – for info, I cooked it in a (non fan) oven at 140c for 4 hours, then increased to 150c for another 3.5 hours as it didn’t look like it was cooking very well at 140. Wrapped the tin in two layers of brown paper and covered top, as per Delia’s instructions.
Fantastic – thanks for sharing 🙂
Hi! A bit late to the party on this one, but can you remember roughly how deep the 12″ square cake was please? X
About 4 inches I think?
Hi Kat was so pleased to see your recipe for a 12 inch Delia wedding cake. I offered to make this for a friend whose daughter is getting married in June. I have made the 8 inch and l0 inch square cakes numerous times for weddings and birthdays with great success and received lovely compliments. I decided to make the cake on Tuesday morning and it took 3 hours 15 minutes to cook at 140 in my fan oven. However, the cake doesn’t feel as moist as I have cooked in the past and am hoping this will happen during the maturing time. In the past I have never added any extra brandy but today felt it needed some so I have given it a quick drink before rewrapping it in double greaseproof paper, double foil and finally in clingfilm. I will check it again in a few days. However, I must thank you for doing the hard work in working out the recipe, it was a great help.
Sorry have just read my message above and it actually took 5 hours 15 minutes to cook and not 3 hours 15 minutes. I am planning to have another go at making the cake this week and will let you know how i get on.
How deep was your 12″ cake please. I find fruit cakes come out no bigger than 2.5″
Pretty hefty – at least 3-3.5 inches I’d say.
I made a 10″ square cake for bottom tier wedding cake for my sons wedding fed it with brandy for a few weeks – I was complimented by the chef at the venue and all the guests – I shall definitely be making this recipe again – thank you very much
Good to hear!
Thank you for the tips. I need to buy a 4 inch deep square baking tin ( 10 or 12 inches square) Where can I find one? I live in VA I have just spent some hours looking online!
I’m in the UK so I don’t know how much I can help – I can’t remember where mine came from. Silverwood does a 12″x4″ tin You may have luck on Ebay if you can’t find an online store
Thank you so much, I have found one online and it should be here in 2 days. Very much appreciated.
Thank you for the details of your cake making day. I have just gone through this process today…and the details you included about putting the bowl on the floor made me laugh…I have had the same problems…I used four bowls to decant fruit and cake batter in order to combine the massive quantities. I also used the pi method…🤪. My 12” fruit cake is in the oven now…just not sure how long for…weight 8.5kg…has been in for 10 hours at 120 degrees….think it might be just about done…wish me luck!
Kind regards,
Joanne
Good luck!!
Thank you, Kat. It looks fantastic! So huge….! This is a practice run for my daughters wedding next year. ☺️