It’s kind of traditional to bake fruit cakes during the holiday season and some people even wind up giving them as gifts to loved ones. They can be very tasty, but it’s also possible that yours might have turned out a bit too dry.
Having to eat a fruit cake that is much drier than you would like for it to be isn’t going to be all that pleasant. That’s why many people are curious about methods that will add some moisture to them.
Keep reading to get important information about how you can moisten dry fruit cake. There are quite a few ideas for you to go over and you’ll be able to determine which one will be the best fit for your situation.
1 – Use a Towel
Using a towel to try to fix a dry fruit cake that has just come out of the oven is a very good idea. Sometimes you will notice that a fruit cake has turned out quite dry as soon as it comes out of the oven and this idea gives you a chance to remedy that right away.
Essentially, you just need to grab a towel and fold it so that it will cover the top of the cake neatly. You’re going to be doing this while the cake is still in the pan, of course.
With the towel placed over the top of the cake, you’re going to place it on a wire rack so that it can cool down. The steam that is coming off of the fruit cake should not be able to escape because of the towel that you placed on top of it.
The reason why this works is that it forces the steam to go back into the cake. This provides the fruit cake with a lot more moisture than it had originally and it should be significantly moister as a result.
It’s also worth noting that this can soften the cake up a little bit as well. Dry fruit cakes are often going to be a bit too hard and catching it when the cake has just come out of the oven gives you a chance to fix things fast.
2 – Brushing with Milk or Water
Another interesting idea is to utilize milk or water to fix your dry fruit cake problem. This will involve using a pastry brush to apply a certain amount of milk or water to the top of the cake.
Whether you want to use milk or water is up to you, but some feel that milk can add a bit more to a cake that has become dry or stale. After making your choice, you just need to brush some milk or water onto the top of the fruit cake.
After this has been done, you will be able to bake the cake for about fifteen minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. This is just enough time to allow it to crisp and it should come out quite a bit moister than it was when it went in.
Just keep an eye on your oven and try not to bake the cake in there for too long. It might take up to twenty minutes to get the results that you are looking for but you won’t want to go longer than that.
Your results might wind up depending on factors such as overall fruit cake size as well as how thick it is. So long as you know this, you should find this idea to be a very good one.
After taking the cake out of the oven, it’s going to need to cool on a wire rack for a while. Just check on it after it has cooled to see if it has turned out how you would like it to.
3 – Using Wine
Wine is another option that you can consider when trying to solve dry fruit cake issues. This is a bit different than the ideas above because it’s more about making a dry cake better to eat than anything else.
Some people pour liquor or dessert wine over the top of fruit cakes before serving slices of the cake. This can actually be quite tasty.
Assuming that you’re using one of your favorite sweet wines or dessert wines, you should have an overall good experience with this idea. You just pour a generous amount of wine on the cake so that it will taste moist when you go to eat it.
Some people also put something else that is sweet on top of the pieces of fruit cake. For example, it would not be uncommon to see people putting whipped cream on top of pieces of fruit cake.
When you use an idea such as this to save a fruit cake that has become too dry, it’s going to make it easy to enjoy it. The practicality of this idea might depend on how much you like the taste of various dessert wines, though.
Depending on your sensibilities, you might prefer one of the earlier methods to trying to make the fruit cake taste better with wine. Just do whatever it is that you think is best so that you can get the most enjoyment out of your cake.
Final Thoughts
You now know more methods for fixing dry fruit cake issues and it shouldn’t be as hard to figure out what to do. If you catch that one is a bit too dry when it comes out of the oven, this is actually going to be a simple problem to fix.
It’s also fairly easy to fix issues that have occurred due to a fruit cake being in storage and this means that you don’t have to give up on one not being as moist as you had hoped. Now that you know what options are available to you, it’s going to be your call to make.
Sarah is the founder of Baking Kneads, LLC, a blog sharing guides, tips, and recipes for those learning how to bake. Growing up as the daughter of a baker, she spent much of her childhood learning the basics in a local bakery.
John Robertson
Thursday 17th of February 2022
Hi, I love fruit cake, people seem to think you have it around Christmas time, not me, I'll have fruit cake anytime. Made one a couple of days ago and it ended up being dry, my method is more for the adult eaters, first I use a fork and prick all over the top of the cake, then brush a cap full of Brandy all over so it soaks into the cake, then I cover the top with some loosely laid cling film, leave overnight and it's nice a moist the next day. You can use a little or a lot of brandy depending on how dry the cake is, but also you don't want the brandy to overpower the fruit (to much).