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Fruit cake a bit dry

(12 Posts)
CanadianGran Tue 22-Dec-20 06:52:19

Is it too late add more liquid to my Christmas cake? Made Mary Berry's recipe, cut in half and baked for less time than required. Made it mid-November and have brushed on rum weekly since. I cut it for the first time yesterday, but it was a bit on the dry side.

Can it be made more moist with added rum, or will is it too late?

Pantglas2 Tue 22-Dec-20 06:55:45

Never too late! Either in the cake or in you......so you don’t notice?

tanith Tue 22-Dec-20 06:58:46

You could add some orange juice if you you don’t want more rum added.

CanadianGran Tue 22-Dec-20 07:39:09

Oh, orange juice is a good idea. I know some of the alcohol evaporates, but the juice would add moisture and flavour. Will try. Thank you.

M0nica Tue 22-Dec-20 08:01:24

Never too late, never too much alcohol in it.

geekesse Tue 22-Dec-20 08:36:31

Brushing with rum or brandy doesn’t really help moisten the cake. Poke a knitting needle into it in several places and make sure the liquid goes into the holes. Not much use for this year, but perhaps it will improve next year’s cake?

Redhead56 Tue 22-Dec-20 08:42:29

I think you can still fork the cake carefully and drizzle in a little (not too much) fruit syrup. From a tin of peaches is a good one wrap it tight with foil or cling wrap it should help.

Luckygirl Tue 22-Dec-20 09:51:28

My effort this year was so hopeless that my DD described it a "a huge Christmas biscuit"!! tchgrin

Maggymay Tue 22-Dec-20 10:12:11

Recently we were given a Fortnum and Mason dundee cake as a gift we were so looking forward to eating it ,but it was very dry.
After adding a generous amount of rum and leaving it for a couple of days it was completely tranformed and was absolutely delicious.

Witzend Tue 22-Dec-20 12:08:48

Poke it all over with a bamboo skewer and slosh plenty more - hic- booze in. Maybe 50/50 with orange juice.

CanadianGran Tue 22-Dec-20 19:58:24

Added a mixture of orange juice and rum, poked plenty of holes (I turned it upside down). I will give it a few more days and then try it.

This was my first Christmas cake, and I will most likely be the only one eating it since the rest of my family are not fans. It smells delicious!

I was doing up some plates of goodies to give to friends, and thought I would cut into it to see if it was presentable enough to give a few slices away. That is when I discovered it was dry. Mind you, that was only the end piece, so maybe the middle is more moist. It was a recipe cut in half, so loaf pan sized. No marzipan for me.

PollyDolly Tue 22-Dec-20 20:06:41

I've not made a fruitcake this year, OH recently diagnosed as Diabetic and I didn't want to tempt him with too much sweet treats; on top of all that we've had some structural work done on the house and there was dust...........left to and lots and lots of dust!
However, I always make the Mary Berry recipe, do it early November and then feed it weekly until 3rd week in December with copious amounts of brandy or rum or sherry......or all three. I'd pierce the surface if the cake with a kebab skewer to allow the liquid to get right into the cake.