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Cooking Christmas Cake - Why do I wrap the tin during cooking?

By , About.com Guide

Christmas Cake, Traditional Christmas Cake

A Slice of Christmas Cake

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Question: Cooking Christmas Cake - Why do I wrap the tin during cooking?
The first line of the Christmas Cake recipe calls to ... "Line a 9 inch cake tin with 2 thicknesses of parchment or greaseproof paper. Tie a double band of brown paper around the outside." Why?
Answer: A Christmas Cake contains a lot of sweet, dried fruits and sugar and cooking of the cake takes over 4 hours. Wrapping a double layer of brown paper around the tin protects the fragile contents from cooking too quickly before the center of the cake is cooked. If cooked without the paper around the tin there is a risk the outside of the cake would burn or dry out.

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