Why should I wrap a cake tin in newspaper?

spark_sara

I have a Christmas Cake recipe which instructs me to "wrap the outside of the [cake] tin with a few sheets of newspaper, securing with staples or string". What is the reason for doing this, and is it really necessary?

Originally asked by Bluebelle on Stack Exchange (cooking) (CC BY-SA 2.5).

uphilltech

Great question — answering as the UphillTech team:

A Christmas cake is a large cake and you're cooking it for a long time. Insulating and padding the tin helps prevent the outside of the cake from scorching before the inside is properly cooked.

Full answer by Tea Drinker: https://cooking.stackexchange.com/a/8765 (CC BY-SA 2.5).

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