Any bakers?
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Discussion

Patrick Bateman

Original Poster:

13,037 posts

200 months

Wednesday 20th December 2017
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I tried this spiced orange cake from Tom Kerridge last year-

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/spiced_orange_c...

Followed instructions to the letter, however a good portion of the centre wasn't cooked through and collapsed even after about 1.5 hours when the outside was about as dark as acceptable, even with using foil.

7 eggs always struck me as a lot, worth giving it a go with 5 eggs instead or are there any other tweaks you'd try first?

FWIW the bits that were baked through were fantastic.


Patrick Bateman

Original Poster:

13,037 posts

200 months

Thursday 21st December 2017
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I am disappoint. I knew we were full of mainly cooks but I thought the odd cake fiend may exist too.

Mobile Chicane

21,884 posts

238 months

Thursday 21st December 2017
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I'd increase the cooking time rather than fiddle with the recipe. You'll know it's done when a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Try not to open the door too wide when you are doing this.

ETA: that your eggs also need to be spanking fresh. The older they are, the 'runnier' they get.

Patrick Bateman

Original Poster:

13,037 posts

200 months

Thursday 21st December 2017
quotequote all
The problem with the skewer method is that this batter is so runny in the first place it never comes out clean like a regular sponge. There's no flour (just ground almonds), about 450g of orange pulp as well as the 7 eggs.

I was already over the max time he stated in the recipe and it was just starting to burn, even with using foil. 7 eggs is just a hell of a lot for the size of cake.

singlecoil

35,813 posts

272 months

Thursday 21st December 2017
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Patrick Bateman said:
I am disappoint. I knew we were full of mainly cooks but I thought the odd cake fiend may exist too.
There is a 'photo of your baking' thread, not used a lot though.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Patrick Bateman

Original Poster:

13,037 posts

200 months

Tuesday 26th December 2017
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I tried it with 6 eggs and it was still crap. I'm giving up on it as it's a hell of a waste of 6 eggs.

Ace-T

8,346 posts

281 months

Tuesday 26th December 2017
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I made this to the exact recipe and oven recommendations and it turned out really well.

Do you have an oven thermometer? Is your oven ok?

Patrick Bateman

Original Poster:

13,037 posts

200 months

Tuesday 26th December 2017
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Yeah, oven thermometer.

Did you use an 8" cake tin or a 9.5" loaf tin?

I had reduced the temperature after around 45 minutes to 140 but even with that the outside would have been comfortably overdone by the time the centre was cooked.

V8mate

45,899 posts

215 months

Sunday 31st December 2017
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Patrick Bateman said:
Yeah, oven thermometer.

Did you use an 8" cake tin or a 9.5" loaf tin?

I had reduced the temperature after around 45 minutes to 140 but even with that the outside would have been comfortably overdone by the time the centre was cooked.
140 isn't hot enough to bake a cake like that. 160 fan/180 normal oven to cook a sponge properly.

Surprised there aren't more bakers amongst us - as Singlecoil said, the threads don't get used much.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Patrick Bateman

Original Poster:

13,037 posts

200 months

Sunday 31st December 2017
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It's not a typical sponge though. No butter, no flour.

And the reason I reduced the temperature was because it was getting dark, it was a touch overdone on the outside I'd say even at that, even with using foil.

If I'd left it at 160 it'd have definitely been properly overdone on the outside by the time the centre was baked.

I'm not going to bother with the recipe again anyway as that's 2 attempts and it's not been great. Wasting an entire box of eggs is excessive.

Edited by Patrick Bateman on Sunday 31st December 16:17

singlecoil

35,813 posts

272 months

Sunday 31st December 2017
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Patrick Bateman said:
I'm not going to bother with the recipe again anyway as that's 2 attempts and it's not been great. Wasting an entirebox of eggs is excessive.
Eggs must be very expensive round your way, or else ground almonds unusually cheap

V8mate

45,899 posts

215 months

Sunday 31st December 2017
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singlecoil said:
Patrick Bateman said:
I'm not going to bother with the recipe again anyway as that's 2 attempts and it's not been great. Wasting an entirebox of eggs is excessive.
Eggs must be very expensive round your way, or else ground almonds unusually cheap
hehe

Patrick Bateman

Original Poster:

13,037 posts

200 months

Sunday 31st December 2017
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Well it is a complete waste of good ingredients.

21TonyK

13,118 posts

235 months

Sunday 31st December 2017
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Might be worth trying with a large paper hat. By the I mean the tin goes in the very bottom of the oven with a greaseproof "tube" or hat at least 8" above the height of the tin.

This allows the cake to cook without browning.