I don't bake all that often.
I cook just about every day of the year, but when it comes to cakes, pies and breads, it's more of a few-times-a-month thing. So my bakeware doesn't get the workout that my cookware does. Nevertheless, cake pans do wear out eventually.
Every year, just before the Christmas holiday, I make at least one Fruit Cake.
Now before you go wrinkling your nose at the thought of the Dreaded Brick of Inedible Goo, be sure to read my other blog on Fruit Cake. We're not talking about what you might be thinking of.
In any case, when I make this holiday treat, I use my Bundt Cake pan. The original recipe for the Fruit Cake calls for a loaf pan, but I use the Bundt pan because, not only does the resulting cake look more "festive", it's an excuse to use my Bundt Cake pan at least once a year.
Well, my Bundt pan is over 20 years old and is beginning to show its age.
While shopping for gifts at the local Bed, Bath and Beyond, I spotted one of those new-fangled silicone pans in the Bundt cake form factor (see figure 1). As I'd been intrigued by these, and knowing that my current Bundt pan was wheezing along on its last breaths, I made an impulse decision to purchase it.
It seemed like a good idea at the time.
OK, given the O. Henry-esque fore-shadowing that I just dropped in your laps, you're probably guessing at this point that I've found the results less than stellar.
In brief, the pan sucks. Hard.
There were three major problems I encountered with this pan. I know the problem is in the pan as I've made this same cake recipe dozens of times over the years.
The problems:
- Uneven baking.
- Little to no browning.
- Stickage.
Let's start with the stickage. You'd think that silicone would be a relatively good non-stick surface, but it isn't. Unmolding the cake was actually rather easy — just a matter of gently peeling the sides away from the cake — but the surface layer of the cake peeled away, sticking to the pan.
This resulted in a cake that looked rather less than festive. And let's face it, the only reason to use a Bundt Pan is to wow your guests with looks!
OK, even though the pan instructions said that greasing was not necessary, I could give the pan a "bye" on this one — the Fruit Cake probably has less fat in it than most other cakes, and perhaps greasing the pan for this particular recipe would be necessary.
However, after cooking the cake the usual amount of time, and even applying the "toothpick test", I found that the cake was unevenly cooked. The outside and center of the cake (where one usually applies the "toothpick test") were solid, but the inside surface of the ring was inexplicably uncooked.
And this in a convection oven where I know that the heat distribution is top-notch.
Hmmm. So I put the cake back in the pan (rather easy with silicone) and cooked it another 15 minutes or so to solidify the uncooked portion.
The final problem was browning — or rather, the lack thereof. A metal or glass pan retains heat that it imparts to its contents. Apparently, silicone does not. The exterior of the cake (most of which stuck to the pan) was pallid and soft. No browned crust, no roasty flavors, no wondrous Maillard reaction.
The resulting cake was certainly edible — it's a wonderful recipe with enough flavor to spare — but that roasty crust is an important part of the flavor component of a cake and you don't realize just how important it is until it's missing.
Oh, and becasue of the above problems, rather than "festive", the cake looked like ass.
So much for the Great Silicone Expirement.
For anyone who's so inclined, a metal Bundt Cake pan is on my Christmas List.
Mention the words "Fruit Cake" this time of year and you're liable to see people fleeing in panic in the opposite direction and mothers holding their hands over their children's ears.
Fruit Cake has gotten a bad rap.
Now, if when I say "Fruit Cake" you think of the traditional leaden brick covered with gooey, translucent, candied things that might have once been fruit but are now sporting colors that can't be found in nature, then you're not thinking of
The notion of what "Fruit Cake" is for me changed forever on December 15th of 1999 when an episode titled "It's A Wonderful Cake" aired on the Food Network show "Good Eats".
In this episode, host Alton Brown demonstrated a recipe for Fruit Cake that avoids what he called "tooth-achingly sweet nuclear gummy fruit" in favor of real dried fruits.
Christmas has never been the same.
Unlike the anchor-worthy block of inedible ingredients that passes for Fruit Cake in the general consensus, this recipe produces a cake that is more reminiscent of a nut bread than a cake, and is truly "A Wonderful Cake".
Alton calls his recipe "Free Range Fruitcake", and while I will not repeat the recipe here, googling for it will bring you to the actual recipe.
One of the interesting aspects of this recipe is that, while the original recipe yields a great and tasty cake, it's perfect for substitutions.
As long as the total volume of dried fruit yields 4 cups, you can play fast and loose with ingredients depending on what you can find at your local grocer's.
One variant that I concocted and that I am particularly fond of is a "Tropical Free Range Fruit Cake", in which I substitute Macadamia nuts for the pecans, and use a mixture of the following dried fruits:
- papaya
- mango
- pineapple
- dates
- raisins
You can varying the proportions of the fruit to your tastes, or make any substitutions you want, as long as the amount of fruit is 4 cups.
Oh, and for this variant, I spritz the cooked cake with spiced rum in place of the brandy.
I urge you to give the Free Range Fruitcake a try. I doubt you will be disappointed. Just be sure not to call it "Fruit Cake" prior to serving it to your guests in order to avoid the stampede that is likely to leave your home in shambles.
