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Please help, I baked a 5″ tall fruit cake 6 months ago and at the time the skewer came out clean, Iv’e been soaking it in alcohol. Today I went to cover it in marzipan and I cut a little off the top but the middle looks likes its not cooked properly. Its a bit soft. I need to deliver the cake Thursday evening. How can I rectify this? Can I re-bake on low temp or microwave …or is there anywhere that I can buy a 5″ deep fruit cake that will deliver by tomorrow. I’m so stressed!!!!

Hi Livvylou

You need to examine the centre of the cake. Take a plug with an apple corer. Be gentle with it. Examine it for raw batter, it will look a different colour to the rest of the cooked bits. Taste it for texture. If it is underbaked, re cooking will not solve the problem. If it is baked and just wet from the alcohol, place the plug back in the hole and leave it open for 20 minutes before covering.

Ready made fruit cakes can be ordered from online stores but I don’t know if they can get one out to you by tomorrow. See here for suppliers sonner rather than later:
https://www.google.com/search?q=ready+made+fruit+cakes+uk&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b

Try also your local supermarkets, Marks and Spencer and Waitrose.

I doubt very much whether you will be able to get a tall fruit cake. It’s possilbe touse two cakes on top of each other. Adjust the height by slicing off the excess and stick them together with some boiled jam. You will also need a centre dowel to go all the way down both cakes to prevent them from sliding. Try and see if you can rescuse some of your own cake for the height adjustment. If not, I’m afraid it will be necessary to buy two cake.

You have the option of making the Mitch Turner recipe which is very moist:
https://www.google.com/search?q=Mitch+Turner+Fruit+cake+recipe&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b

In this instance, I would suggest if using this recipe, to make them 3″ deep. This is to ensure they will bake through and they can be stuck together as described above.

I’m sorry I can’ help you more. Unfortunately this time scale is so short. Best option is to see if you can buy ready made ones. Good luck and let me know how you get on. X

Thank you so much Madeitwithlove for your quick and very detailed response! I took the middle out and it was the same colour as the rest, just a bit soft. It tastes lovely though. Unwrapping it and leaving it to dry out has helped it to firm up but it’s still just a little soft in the centre. It’s really annoying as it’s only the very centre, about an inch in diameter of the centre of the cake – so frustrating! I don’t want to take any small risks though 🙁
I do have another 12″ fruit cake for a wedding later in the year, this one is 3″ tall, I’ve checked it and its fine so I could cut this to size & just buy one 10″ cake and put them together as you’ve said? …just to be safe! It will have a sturdy cake stacker dowel through the middle so hopefully it should be ok.
Everything else is ready and prepared it was just this tier which will be plain iced. It’s the first first time I’ve baked a fruit cake this deep. Very valuable lesson learned today!! Thank you again for sharing your knowledge with me, it’s very much appreciated xx

I’m sorry I wasn’t able to respond back to your reply. I’ve had a nightmare with my internet which has only came back on this morning. I hope things are working out ok.
I was going to add that when you stick the two cakes together, the join may leave a slight gaping. If this does happen, make a thinnish sausage with some marzipan and block in the gap. Use smoothers to completely level the marzipan so the two surfaces meld in. You may find you have a similar gap at the bottom of the cake too. Do the same to level off the bottom. Fill in any fruit holes over the surface of the cake with small balls of marzipan and level smooth.

For future reference, fruit cakes should be marzipaned approximately three days before icing. This allows the marzipan to dry and form a good surface for the icing. It also helps the oils in the marzipan to dry so they don’t discolour the icing. This is more important if the cake is being royal iced. Fruit cakes can be marzipanned and ice well in advance, taking the stress out of an already steep time line.

Good luck and hope you feel less stressed. X 🙂

Madeitwithlove Thank you so much for all the brilliant advice in here! I am making my first fruit cake for a wedding and this information about the marzipan, plugging gaps and being able to ice in advance is music to my ears!
Thank you so much!

You’re welcome therese1. It takes a bit of time doing all the plugging in but the end finish is worth the bother.

🙂