Delia's cake

[Russethouse]

 I bought and baked a Delia Smith Christmas Cake from Waitrose, and I bought one for a friend in France who baked hers, my sister bought and baked one too and we all think that despite being 'fed' they wre a tad dry......anyone else ?

[woolybanana]

Were you a bit mean with the brandy?

[Gardengirl]

The one I made is lovely, not at all dry, although I must admit I had doubts, having always made my own in the past. I fed it very generously with cognac - even more than I normally do, as I baked it later than my normal October session. I was tempted to buy another last week, as they were reduced to £5, but thought of my expanding waistline instead!

[Russethouse]

Au contraire......we were pretty generous.....[:)]

[Russethouse]

The instructions said to bake it for four hours - we followed the temperature instructions to the letter but still we took it out early because it was obvious it was cooked and we were frightened the edges would 'catch'.

We've made Delia's Christmas cake from her recipes before, with no problems, but this was the first 'kit'

[Pommier]

I used to make the 'kit' ones from the Co-op years ago (and they always came out lovely), but not since we've been in France.

[idun]

But when did you make it? I'd make mine in October, give it time to be fed and rested and they are usually lovely. I use the Dorothy Sleightholme Farmhouse Kitchen recipe.

[Russethouse]

 I'd already made it when I went to France last time and that was for the weekend of Nov 11th - since then its been regularly fed and wrapped in foil and in an airtight lock & lock... I'd understand it if was just me, but my sister and friend had the same result.

My mother still has the Dorothy Sleightholme books - that takes me back !

[idun]

Xmas Pud, Dorothy Sleighholme, Xmas Cake, Dorothy Sleightholme, when things are superlative, then I don't change, why would I. I give xmas pud to friends every year and they love it, not too sweet just full of all those wonderful flavours.

No idea what happened to your cake, as you said, may be overbaked, but never the less, it should have moistened during all that time.

[Gardengirl]

We specially had some more of our Delia cake yesterday evening after supper, keeping moistness in mind - and it really was very moist. I think it was a good runner-up to the best home-baked in our case. I've baked the same Good Housekeeping recipe for over 40 years, and used to bake some for others too, and always had excellent results. They were always baked in October and fed well each week.

I bought Christmas cakes in 2 years when illness prevented doing anything, and hated them - fruit cake isn't a favourite of mine, unless it's rich and moist and has lovely marzipan and royal icing on top. The shop-bought cakes from M&S and Waitrose weren't a success at all - the taste of the cake, marzipan and icing was poor.

After still being weak after having flu this year I couldn't even think of making my own cake, so Delia's was the next best thing, and OH was pleased with her along with our efforts. It did come out of the oven before the 4 hours recommended were up, as it seemed an over-long amount of time to me compared with the time my larger ones usually take, plus it was the oven's first Christmas, so I was a bit unsure of it. I think it came out after about 3½ hours.

 

 

[JeanS]

My sister baked a Delia cake from a kit this year and said it was ok.  I made mine from the Delia recipe I've been using for years. Although I made it later than usual it was still nice and moist. I take it out of the oven after about 3.5 to 3.45hrs. Also I use a slightly lower oven temperature as I have a fan oven.  Only criticism from family was that it wasn't as 'boozy'.

[Cluzo]

I got a Delia Kit for free last week ( with a DM voucher and after spending a fortune on our Christmas meat)

So how soon after making it can we eat it    ???- I was thinking making it in France to be eaten a few days later - but after reading all your comments perhaps I should reconsider and bake it soon.

[Gardengirl]

I'd suggest ASAP, to give it as much time as possible for feeding with cognac!

[Russethouse]

My cake was well fed with Convoisier, if I made another one I'd keep an eye on the cooking time and ignore the time suggested.

[Gardengirl]

I've just got back from Waitrose, where Delia's cake packs were reduced to £2.50 - but I resisted temptation! [:)] Cluzo, I agree with Russethouse to think about reducing the length of baking time. Mine took 30 minutes less than the 4 hours shown on the pack; I used a cake prodder and when it came out clean I took it out of the oven.

I've also just remembered that when I took it out, the tray on the shelf underneath was swimming in butter, and I was concerned that the cake might be dry. So I made up for that by feeding it lots of extra cognac!

[Joe]

Just made Delia's mincemeat.

[idun]

Was it good?

I have looked at Delia's recipe and that looks like an awful lot of mixed spice. My Dorothy Sleightholme recipe doesn't even have any in it. And to prevent the apples fermenting the apples get cooked, which is another solution.

If I couldn't get suet in France I'd grate butter into the mix, but use it quite quickly.

[Joe]

It tastes nice.I put in Almond brandy.

The mixed spice was ok.I did not use the the mixed peel.

I did get the suet from the English "shelf" in the Supermarche in Pontivy.

[idun]

[Www] Even if the recipe didn't mention it, I'd always give it a good dose of something alcholic, somehow those dried fruits just cry out...........give us a drink!!