Fruit Sinking to the Bottom of the Cake

Our answer

For dried fruits such as raisins or dried cranberries you can reduce the likelihood of the fruit sinking by dusting them with some flour first. Scoop a little of the flour from your mixing bowl into a small bowl and toss the dried fruit in it until the fruit has a good coating of flour. Add the fruit (and any flour left in the bowl) to cake batter as normal in the recipe. Dried fruist tend to have a very light coating of vegetable oil on them which can make them a little "slippery" in the cake batter, causing them to sink as the cake rises up during baking. The flour coating helps the fruit to grip the cake batter and rise better with the cake.

Unfortunately whole glace (candied) cherries are just too large and will sink even if dusted with flour. You will need to halve or even quarter them to prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the cake and dust with a little flour as well. For firmer fresh fruits (such as apples) try cutting the fruits into dice or thin slices to reduce the risk of them sinking.