My Christmas Cake feels dry

Asked on 8 Nov 2017 by Janis

I made Delia's classic christmas cake and cooked it exactly as the recipe said, even using an oven thermometer. I took it out after 4 hrs and it was cooked however when removed from the tin the outside of the cake feels very dry. Any tips on how to avoid this if I try again or anything I can do to make it acceptable to use.

Lindsey, Food Editor replied

Hello,

Did you use a fan oven?

If so, did you reduce the temperature?

If you use a fan setting you generally need to reduce the temperature by 20 degrees but as this cake recipe is baked on the lowest shelf (which makes a difference in a conventional oven but not a fan oven) I would reduce the temperature by 25 degrees (i.e. 115 degrees but obviously you can use any shelf).

You can ‘feed’ the cake with 2 – 3 teaspoons of brandy or Armagnac and also use a paintbrush to paint the outside with a little more of the alcohol as well. Then wrap in parchment and foil and then keep it in airtight tin and ‘feed’ it again every ten days or so.

Kind regards

Lindsey