My daughter-in-law doesn't like raisins, sultanas etc so I usually use Alison Holst's Golden Christmas cake recipe that has dried papaya, mango, melon and craisins. We like the flavour of this cake but it invariably falls apart when we cut it. I thought it was because the chunks of fruit were too big so I have tried cutting them smaller but that didn't solve the problem. Now I am tossing up between replacing the ground almonds with extra flour or reducing the amount of fruit so there is more 'cake' to hold it together. Any ideas?

PennyG, sultanas, raisins & currants all seem to have a tiny amount of moisture in them, more so, I think, than crystalised fruit. Is it possible the fruit is drawing more moisture from whatever liquid you are using? Increasing the amount of liquid you use for boiling the fruit could perhaps help.

Never having made this cake myself, I don't know what sort of consistency the 1 cup of liquid and 5 eggs produces, so I'm only guessing.

PennyG here is a link to the same question Helen asked a few years ago [forum.foodlovers.co.nz] and I wonder if the answer is related to the dried fruit you have used (as in Auzzi's No. 2 list of possible scenarios). Or maybe it's the flour as per Auzzi's suggestion. I use high grade flour as I'm sure you do too. Haven't seen you on the forum for years it seems - nice to see you here again!
Regards,
Dawn.

The fruit is soaked in wine overnight and the mixture is pretty moist so I don't think moisture is an issue.

Thanks Dawn. I don't think it is dry fruit because it is simmered in wine then soaked over night. I am sure it is well packed as there are no gaps round the fruit. I do use high-grade flour so wouldn't think that would be the issue either. I do cook it longer than it says in the recipe but it is still quite raw in the middle if I don't. Perhaps I need to stir it more to develop some gluten.

PennyG, your idea about replacing the ground almonds with extra flour might work as I, in the not too distant past, substituted 50g of ground almonds instead of flour into my daily bread recipe and it did increase the chance of it being crumbly.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/2019 06:51AM by J1.

I used to make this cake quite often, and was a real favourite and never had any problems with it. My motto for all fruit cakes is long and slow, so I always have the temperature lower than stated and cook it longer than stated. When you can smell it, it is nearly ready, so keep an eye on it.

I ended up replacing the ground Almonds with flour and slightly reducing the amount of fruit and am happy to report that it tastes just as good and it isn't crumbling when I cut it



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/29/2019 09:24AM by PennyG.