Cherry Almond Loaf Cake Too Brown

Asked by RMargrie. Answered on 19th July 2015

Full question

Hello Nigella Team, I love the Cherry Almond Loaf Cake recipe and have used it many times, however, each time, in order for the cake tester to come out clean (I only do it to the point it's just clean) then the edges and the top of the cake end up looking too brown. Although they don't taste burnt and actually the cake has a lovely texture it frustrates me that I can't seem to avoid it looking like this. I am a proficient baker, I've tried lowering the temperature of my oven as its always on the hotter side, first by 5c, then 10c and finally by 20c, but at 20c it just meant the cake failed to raise as much as normal. Any suggestions, should I cook it for less time, so the cake tester isn't so clean and it continues to cook through whilst cooling in the tin resulting in an even moister cake or cover with foil towards the end to avoid the burnt appearance, or is it simply meant to be this way? Thank you in advance!

Our answer

Nigella's Cherry Almond Loaf Cake (from Domestic Goddess and on the Nigella website) has, like many loaf cakes, a slightly lower temperature than average for cakes (170c/325F) and a long-ish cooking time (45 minutes to 1 hour). Unfortunately lowering the temperature too much from here will make it difficult to bake the cake properly. The cake should have a crust which is a medium brown, rather than a golden brown, but should not look scorched. If you know your oven runs a little on the hot side then lower the oven by 10c only and make sure that the oven shelf is in the centre of the oven, or slightly below, so that the top of the cake is not too high up in the oven itself.

We would suggest covering the cake with with foil after about 30-40 minutes, depending on how long the cake takes to bake in your oven. The cake should be set on top and be careful not to open the oven door too early as this may cause the cake to to sink in the centre. With square and rectangular cake tins the corner edges can brown quite quickly and you may also find it helpful to carefully rotate the cake pan by 180 degrees when you cover it with foil, to help the edges cook more evenly.