or is life too short to rinse glace cherries?!

[pigeononthegate]

Mary Berry's classic Christmas cake recipe - looks fabulous, I was planning to make an "old-fashioned" Christma cake for MIL this year with royal icing and a proper sugarcraft poinsettia/holly/ivy, twee as fuck and MIL will love it

this recipe says I have to "wash and thoroughly dry each glace cherry"

I don't really have to do this, do I? A bit of syrup won't bugger up the cake?

I rinse mine to get rid of all the syrup gloop. I tend not to dry them, because I soak them in brandy for a couple of days before they go in my Christmas cake, but even drying them isn’t THAT arduous. I’d toss them around in a double or triple thickness of kitchen paper. Ain’t nobody got time to dry each one individually

I soak them in kirsch , they dont stick together then!

I'm not sure ive ever baked a cake with glace cherries in it as an adult, but i remember my mum leaving them to soak in boiling water. I don't remember what the drying process was but i imagine it was tipping them onto kitchen roll . I can't imagine the faff of indivvidually drying cherries!!

Is it Mary Berry to tell you to soak the fruit in brandy for 3 days? In which case, I weigh the cherries first, rinse in the sieve, dump onto kitchen roll, then weigh everything else out before chopping the cherries.
I cant see anything sinking through a fruit cake!

I have soaked my fruit for 3 days in a bottle of sherry. that should keep the cake moist.

Life's too shot to eat glacé cherries! Let alone rinse them.

Just sieve them & put them aside on kitchen roll/bung them in the airing cupboard for 5 min. Stops them sinking & being gloopy.

"I have soaked my fruit for 3 days in a bottle of sherry."

Wow!

How did you fit it in?!

"I have soaked my fruit for 3 days in a bottle of sherry."

I used to use a bottle of mulled wine to soak mine

Just rinse the bastard cherries 🍒

I use Mary berry's recipe every year. Have never rinsed cherries (rarely chop them for that matter) and they haven't ever sunk! I get cake requests every year so must be good.

To misquote Shirley Conran; Life's too short to rinse a glacé cherry.

Never done so and never will. Mary's losing the plot if she thinks otherwise.

Not so much 'how did you fit it in?' diddl as how did you get it out?!

My late mother who made fabulous wedding cakes and so on used to roll glace cherries lightly in flour before using them, she said it prevented them sinking.
I use St Delia of Norwich's Creole reci[pe, wonderful, I have the fruit soaking now in a huge amount of alcohol and will make the bit of cake to hold it together about the first week of December,

I do Delia’s Christmas cake and I have never rinsed and dried my glacé cherries. Sometimes I soak the dried fruit, cherries and peel in brandy before I make the cake, and other times I don’t - and I can honestly say I have never noticed any problem with where the cherries end up in the cake, or with the cake itself.

My mum rinses all her dried fruit then puts it on a tray in a very low heat oven (or near the aga where it’s really warm😁). She says the fruit plumps up better and makes a moister cake- have to admit she’s been making amazing rich fruit cakes for years and everyone loves them 😁😁

I'm no use I thought you meant before eating from the tub.

Thats a definite no - the syrup is the best bit

Not listening to Mary Berry with cooking though .......:: 🤔

Never question Mary Berry!

YABU for making anything that contains glacé cherries because they’re absolutely rank.

Despite this, I would totally obey Mary Berry. Chuck them in a sieve.

I've just made 20+ Christmas cakes of different sizes. I soak the mixed fruit, peel and cherries overnight in brandy, so all I do to the cherries is put them in a bowl, pour boiling water over them, leave them for 5 minutes, drain them, chop them and add them to the other dried fruit.

Honestly, it's no more work than measuring out the dried fruit. You don't need to 'air dry' them, or anything like that. You just need to wash off the sticky syrup, and that takes 5 minutes, and then drain them. No dabbing or drying off with paper towel necessary!

I've had no complaints (just more orders!) over the years!

I also have scaled down recipes and cooking times for 4" and 3" cakes if anyone wants them? If you need 6" and over, I have Delia's scaling up Christmas cake recipe printed out, so can recommend that too.

Wash 'em through a sieve and roll 'em all together in kitchen roll. That's what I've done when washing glace cherries, otherwise they sink.

never rinsed them instead weight out the flour then chop cherries in half and swoosh round in flour then pop them in the mix flour and all never had any failures

I always rinse mine for cakes, reduces them sinking. Quickly rinse in a sieve colander or in my hand then dry with kitchen roll.

@MrsFrankDrebin - yes please! I hate fruit cake, but DH likes it so I might make a mini one for him (and any guests who show up over Christmas).

I would assume that it was so the cherries don't dye the cake pink? I've never had Christmas Cake, so that may not be a concern, but I make a cherry cordial cookie every year for Christmas and if I don't rinse the cherries, the whole cookie turns out pink.

I put them in a strainer, run water over them, then dump them out in a single layer on some paper towels.

I pour boiling water over them in a sieve, shake and then soak in brandy for at least a day 😀