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Hi Bold Bakers!
When your cakes are jam-packed with yummy goodies inside you want them to be well distributed. How to Stop Fruit from Sinking to the Bottom of Cake is a common question here, read on for the answer! I love a good Blueberry Muffin that has a burst of fresh blueberry inside of it or my Irish Christmas Cake that is absolutely filled with dried cherries, raisins, and citrus that have all been soaked in a strong whiskey.
If you love these kinds of things, then you know they can tend to have something in common! Rich batters filled with tons of yummy stuff inside can sometimes all sink to the bottom. This is mostly because all of the goodies, whatever they may be, are heavier than that batter itself.
Well, now that we know WHY this is happening, I am sure you’re wondering how to avoid it, and if there’s a quick fix.
How to Stop Fruit From Sinking to the Bottom of Cake
All you have to do is give all your goodies (raisins, cherries, blueberries, currants, etc) a light coating of flour before adding them into your dough or batters. It’s just that easy!
The reason behind it is that this will give the dough or batter something to adhere to which holds these lovely bits in place in the bake. This improves the look of whatever you’re baking, as all of those pockets of goodness are now evenly distributed throughout the bake, as opposed to lumped together on the bottom of your cake tins! Do try this, I promise that you’ll never skip this step again once you see the results.
P.S When adding Maraschino (Glace) cherries, rinse them off first in water before tossing in flour to remove that heavy sugar syrup they are held in.
Did you like this baking tip? I have lots more short videos just like this one that will help you get baking confidently in the kitchen. Get more Bold Baking Basics.
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About Us
Meet Gemma
About Us
Meet Gemma
Hi Bold Bakers! I’m Gemma Stafford, a professional chef originally from Ireland, best-selling cookbook author, and the creator of Bigger Bolder Baking and the Bold Baking Network. I want to help you bake with confidence anytime, anywhere with my trusted and tested recipes and baking tips. You may have seen one of my 1000+ videos on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok or as a guest judge on Nailed It! on Netflix or the Best Baker in America on Food Network. No matter your skills, my Bold Baking Team & I want to be your #1 authority for everything baking.
That won’t work if you use brandy- soaked fruit in your cake. Any tips for that Gemma?
Hi ma’am, Can we use this theory for chocolate chips and pieces of chopped dates?
This tip does not work. Doesn’t make any difference if the fruit is flored or not it still sinks to the bottom. A lot of remedies on the Internet state the mixture is too slack, if this is the case how can it be made thicker to alleviate the sink age without ruining the recipe.
Hi I am coeliac and usually add an extra egg for the gf flour. I do coat my sultanas with flour but they still sink any advise.
This would also apply to your microwave cup recipes as well!
Hi Gemma. I tried making a christmas fruit cake in which all my dried fruits had been soaking in rum for many months before baking. Now, when I made the cake, I dusted the fruits with flour that that I had taken from the measured flour used in the recipe. But when the cake came out of the oven, the fruits had still sunk to the bottomk. What could be the reason?
Do you have a recipe for the picture in this post? Looks amazing
Love this tip to keep all the fruit in my baking evenly distributed.
Gumdrops seem to settle even with flour
My two boiled raisin cakes are ok but the raisins are not distributed evenly.