I might find some loaf tins. I have lots of cookie tins!
We used to get a round tinned fruitcake at Christmas in the 80s, and I remember we kept the tins for a while , but I never thought to make fruitcake and store it in those tins. The Belgian biscuit tins are a little too short for the fruitcakes I baked this year.
I probably go overboard. I soak cheese cloth in a little booze, wring until just damp, then wrap the fruitcakes in that, followed by plastic, followed by tin foil, followed by an airtight tin. I keep them at room temperature for about 3 months, every two weeks digging down to the cheesecloth layer and spritzing with booze. At the end of the feeding period, I put tin and all in the fridge.
I’m just now finishing up the last of last year’s fruitcake. The difference between fresh and well-aged amazes me. Good to begin with, it is fantastic now.
FYI I’ve found ebay to be a good source of odd-sized and odd-shaped tins (if you can find a suitable listing with reasonable shipping charges).
I like to buy tins filled with fancy stuff, then keep them. I might splurge on some Fortnum’s stuff.
This is from a recent tin of cookies I bought, and I brought cookies for a cookie exchange in it!
I love tins in general, especially when they are full of treats!
My mother always wrapped her fruitcakes in damp cheesecloth (Myers’s dark rum for her) and then foil and stored in an airtight container.
The booze soaked cheesecloth is a great idea! As far as tins go, I just go to the local dollar store. Same stuff, just less expensive.
I guess a pyrex container with a lid could do the same trick?
I think that would be a good choice.
I am hoping for suggestions or advice: I want to bring a sherry bundt cake with honey glaze to a Hanukkah party on Saturday. I was thinking about trying this recipe:
And then glazing it with melted honey and butter, maybe with a little more sherry, after releasing it from the pan. I don’t want to use avocado oil, so what would be a good substitute that would compliment the flavors of the cake?
Opinions? Does anyone have a bundt cake recipe they think would work well in this application? Any suggestions for success or pitfalls to avoid?
Dietary restriction is no walnuts.
TiA!
Pyrex with a tight-fitting lid, or a large tupperware-type container work well. Room temperature is fine; once your cake is baked, no need to worry about the butter and eggs in it.
Okay, thank you.
Avocado oil is neutral, so you could just replace it with a neutral oil of your choice in that recipe.
As an alternative, I love this recipe from Alice Medrich. The sherry flavor comes through, as does the olive oil if you use a flavorful one. No reason you couldn’t brush it with a honey glaze after baking. (The recipe photo shows a loaf, but it makes a bundt or two loaves.)
Thank you for the suggestion. I have made Medrich’s recipe before and liked it fairly well.
If I were to use the recipe I linked above, is there anything I could do to help prevent the doming on the top / bottom? My pan is Nordicware. Lower the temperature? Wrap foil around the pan? I would like for the slices to be flat on the bottom.
I hadn’t heard of sherry wine cake before your post. So, it led to the 15th or 16th rabbit hole of my unproductive day. I found this recipe and it’s an entertaining read. (Same answer as Caitlin, any oil you like will do. Emeril says cooking oil in his version of this recipe fwiw) https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/05/08/culinary-complicity/
Funny post. I’m using blended sherry from Trader Joe’s, which isn’t as sweet as cream. More like medium dry. I hope I have time to age some eggs (j/k).
I haven’t tried this yet, but I’ve been wondering whether starting with a cold oven, so it bakes slower, would help prevent the doming on a bundt cake.
Hmm, it’s definitely a thing for pound cakes. She claims this recipe is light and fluffy. I wonder if it will screw things up?
Many years ago I made the recipe with boxed yellow cake mix; it was divine. Made the house smell great … I used to make it often.
I use a Rubbermaid container that fits all my small loaves. Wrap them in cheesecloth and brush with rum and seal up. Repeat often, or at least as often as I remember! Then tins or whatever else I can find for the rounds. Not making any this year though.
Lower the baking temp to 300 (or even 275) and reduce the baking powder.
You can try using cake strips (I made my own from an old hand towel) but they are less effective for a bundt than for a round cake, because the bundt has the metal cylinder in the center that causes it to rise faster.
I was thinking when my olive oil bundt cake domed even at 275 recently (before thanksgiving) that a Bain Marie might be something to try next time to even out heat more effectively.
But if you’re flipping the cake over to glaze, doming doesn’t matter as much because you can trim the dome for a flat bottom (cook’s treat).
Re oil — I’ve been using grapeseed of late for a neutral flavor (I can taste canola, and I don’t always want olive oil flavor).