Please help me save my Christmas cake

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

I made it yesterday. One of Delias pre measured ones. It looked great and I was so proud. Then I left it out overnight to cool. Stupid, stupid, stupid :-( It is now rock hard. I took a core sample from the bottom this morning and it looks like there may be some remnants of moisture inside. So what do I do.

Do I bin it?

Do I try and trim off the hard bits and have a mini cake?

Do I ignore and hope everyone is too polite to say anything?

Please help me this was my first ever cake and I am a bit gutted to say the least :-(

sprinkle it with some a lot of brandy, it will be fine.

Fruit cake can appear very hard from the outside but I'm sure it will be fine. Pretty certain I left mine out all night too. Sprinkling of brandy will help , but also, assuming you are decorating it, the apricot jam will soften it as will. The marzipan and icing will all add to the taste. It will be delicious.

Yes, same as Imnotaslimjim - stab tiny holes in it with a skewer or knitting needle and pour lashings of brandy over it.

Wrap cake in clingfilm and keep it in a box but keep throwing brandy at it.

So is clingfilm ok then? Delia said two layers of baking parchment and then tinfoil which is why I left it out all night as that was too much faff

I only made my cake last week. I got a cocktail stick and stabbed it all over and put a tablespoon of brandy over it. Couple of days later I gave it two more, and it had another yesterday. It smells wonderful, and doesn't seem as dry on the outside anymore.

You should be able to get in a couple of soakings before decorating!

The jam, marzipan and icing will help too.

I wrapped mine in greaseproof paper and foil and put it in a tin. Honestly, it'll be fine.