Christmas cake experts - your help please

[shelley72]

So a few weeks ago I made a cake. The same one I have made for about ten years (Mary Cadogan, Good Food Mag). I took it out on Sunday to feed it and it looks as is it could be quite dry and feels like a brick. I'm now worried about it and wondering if I should make another . It's never failed me (til now) so I can only put it down to the new oven.

If there any way I can tell if it's going to be dry when cut into, without actually cutting into it? Will feeding it lots of alcohol help? I don't want to serve it to people if it's awful!

TIA

Could you slice the top off as if too even out the bumps for icing it to see how dry it is. As it's early days, it could correct itself after you have fed it several times over the next few weeks.

I'm assuming its massive? In which case you can cut it inhaled horizontally to see inside - but he time you've marzipanned, iced and sliced noone will know the difference. And yes, heaving vast quantities of booze into it (a tblspn daily) will help soften it up

Could you use an apple corer to take a sample from the underside (without going the whole way through the cake)?

I am a bit worried about hacking it in half (with my cutting skills) but a corer sounds a good plan.I'm sure we used to have one.

As for feeding the cake, a tbsp a day sounds quite a lot of alcohol by Christmas? Is there anything else I can feed it with so that it's safe for the children and non drinking rellies?

What about orange juice? I'm sure I used that for a carrot cake once. Or another kind of juice?