Just tried to do the boiled fruitcake mix

ange164, Jul 3, 6:55am
I just tried to do the boiled fruitcake mix out of the edmonds cook book. I wanted just a half mix. I used two small eggs instead of 1.5 regular ones. And the batter seemed way too sloppy, (Perhaps I added too much water? I did only *just* cover it, like the recipe says.) so I added about an extra half to three quarters of a cup of flour (with ratio BP) but it's come out as a remarkably stodgy cake. It'll be fine served with custard as dessert for a week; but I sure wish it had worked better as a cake.
mkbooks, Jul 3, 7:20am
Why not do the recipe properly + freeze half? you'll get a better result
jed, Jul 4, 3:26am
Just a thought... are you meant to drain the water off the boiled fruit?
buzzy110, Jul 4, 3:45am
angel I think that maybe it wasn't the mix or your 'mucking' about with the ratios that caused your cake to be stodgy.I'm not sure of the recipe you used because I cannot find it in my book but one thing I do know about boiled fruitcake is that it will come out stodgy if the boiled fruit is not completely cold before proceeding with the rest of the recipe.

Can I suggest that next time you do one, cook the fruit the night before. By the time you get to it the next day it will be cold and you will not have gotten impatient and carried on making your cake before it is properly cold.

Doing this has two advantages. The first is that the fruit absorbs more liquid and any fat (butter) has had time to set so the mix is no longer sloppy. The second is that the nature of the flour is not altered by being added to hot liquid and so your cake does not become stodgy.

I hope I analysed what happened correctly. Ignore me if I haven't.
elliehen, Jul 4, 4:09am
With the boiled fruitcake recipe I used to make, you drained the water away and added chopped butter to the plumped fruit - to melt. It was not a sloppy mix.
dollmakernz, Jul 4, 5:03am
Try this one, it's beautiful!
Christmas Fruit Cake

appx 1kg mix fruit, 1Tbsp g/syrup, 2c water, 3 eggs, 2c b/sugar, 2Tbsp sherry, 250g butter, 3c flour, 1tsp mix spice, 2tsp b/powder, 1tsp b/soda, ½tsp salt, ½tsp each-vanilla, almond, and lemon essence.
Combine fruit, water, sugar, butter, spice, b/soda and g/syrup in a pot. Bring to the boil and simmer covered for 10mins. Cool. When cold add well beaten eggs, sherry & essences. Mix well. Fold in sifted flour, b/powder and salt. Place in a well greased lined 23cm tin. Bake at 160oc 2½-3hrs.
laneyjan, Jul 4, 5:13am
I use that recipe all the time, but you do drain the fruit before adding other ingredients. Beautiful cake usually.
ange164, Jul 4, 10:21pm
Ah, thanks All. Yes Buzzy, I think my impatience got the better of me and the fruit *was* still pretty warm; and no I didn't tip off any water as the recipe doesn't say to. It'll work better next time I'm sure with a bit more patience. Glad I still have half a packet of fruit mix left for another go.
agave1, Jul 24, 8:49am
I make the same edmonds recipe a lot - I don't drain the water off and it works out fine.