Imho ( now into my 35 year of making! And longer if you consider I helped my mum since a toddler😊) , feeding is an overrated thing. If you like a very boozy cake tasting of rum or whisky - fine probably need to feed it in. But in terms of a moist cake it doesn’t need feeding
bear in mind until 1970s dried fruit had long supply chains, was expensive, had to be hand washed, dried and picked over to remove stalks etc. often bought loose from grocer who weighed from hessian sacks. Yep, dried fruit including raisins were like billets. These days it’s washed, defied and stalks removed at source ( or close) while freshly picked before drying, it’s dried quickly bagged ans sealed. Jeez you can even eat raisins straight out the bag these days
tips o make th cake moist is a soft dropping consistency with liquid ( I us a grape bas3c liquid- red wine, port, Madeira or whatever I have to hand and plenty of lemon and orange juice , dark molasses sugar and black treacle - it will be fine then
another trick to speed up fruit soaking if you don’t have time- stick the dried fruit in pan with the alcohol and a splash of water ( 2-3 tbsp), bring to boil and simmer gently , stirring frequently for 5-10 mins. You can literally see the fruit plumping up as his is happening. Turn heat off. Cool overnight on stove top. Stir again in morning and chuck into cake . I adapted this technique from “ boiled fruit cake” recipes which are lovely and moist. I do not and never have even 1960s , soaked fruit for a week
and no not too late- I’m literally sitting down with a cuppa after gett8ng my cakes out of the oven, and striking up my mincemeat.