Should I Wrap The Traditional Christmas Cake In Foil?

Asked by MacFlod. Answered on 4th October 2024

Full question

I found Nigella's Traditional Christmas Cake recipe online. This is the first time I've used the recipe and it looks great. At the end of the recipe it says "When the cake is cooked, brush with a couple of extra tablespoons of bourbon or brandy or other liqueur of your choice. Wrap immediately in its tin – using a double-thickness of tin foil – as this will trap the heat and form steam, which in turn will keep the cake soft on top." I've done it...of course, but won't it keep the heat in and keep the cake "baking", or make the cake sweat? I've never come across this before, I did a bit of research and most say not to.

HOW TO BE A DOMESTIC GODDESS UK book cover

Christmas Cake

By Nigella

Our answer

Nigella's Traditional Christmas Cake (from CHRISTMAS, HOW TO BE A DOMESTIC GODDESS) and Time-Honoured Christmas Cake (from [FEAST]/books/feast) are rich fruit cakes studded with dried fruits that have been plumped up with an overnight soaking in brandy or sherry. This type of rich fruit cake has quite a long baking time and the cakes are then usually fully cooled in their tins or pans before unmoulding and storing. Nigella suggests to cover the cake tin with foil while the cake cools as this traps steam, which means that the crust doesn't become hard or dry as the cake cools and also helps to prevent the brandy or sherry that you have just brushed on the top of the cake from evaporating too quickly. It should not cause the cake to over bake as it doesn't significantly slow down the cooling rate of the cake.

We wonder if there is confusion between this step of the recipe method, where the cake is cooling, and the longer-term storage of the fully cooled cake. Once the cake is completely cold, remove the foil cover and unmould the cake from its tin. The cake should then be wrapped and stored in an airtight container. The original recipe, initially written over 25 years ago, suggested that the cold cake should be wrapped in a double layer of foil. However, now we suggest wrapping the cake first in a layer of baking parchment (parchment paper) and then in a double layer of foil. Store the wrapped cake in an airtight container.