i spent all yesterday preparing and baking a recipe for Mrs. Beaton Welsh Christmas Cake. lot of rubbish?

Question

It said use a moderate oven, Internet says a 'moderate
oven is 180c, I set 170, it said cook for betwen one and three quarter to two and half hours, mine was black and burnt after only one and a quarter hours

Answer 1

Had a look at a few sites and the 180 Moderate seems to come from sites that had .com addresses and conversions were for SLOW, MODERATE, MODERATE HOT etc.
Now I know that my both my gran and old cook books here in the UK spoke of COOL, WARM, MODERATE, etc
When I went to a UK based site (it turned out to be Welsh)MODERATE seems to be 160 so 170 is on the higher side. Furthermore if it is a moderrn oven with a fan or air circulation then they are supposed to be set around 20 degrees cooler then older ovens due to the way heat is distributed.
Guessing you are in the UK since you are talking centrigade and, since it is nearly impossible to get a domestic oven that is not fan assisted, I think you should really have had the oven around 140, 150 at a push, and started checking it at about the 1.5 hour mark.
Mrs Beaton did not right the original recipes, but they have all been well checked.

Edit: @btinternet... so comment about the fan oven stands and this also explains why you converted then reduced the temp.

Answer 2

Hi,sorry on your disaster.I usually always when using a recipe watch the oven like a hawk.Best cook book I have ever come across is the one Bero use to give free have had mine since 73.Merry Christmas

Answer 3

Bummer - maybe a moderate oven 100 years ago was 100oC or there abouts.

Answer 4

Somewhere I remember reading that Mrs Beaton never actually tried her recipes and many of them are indeed useless!!