Is 3 days too long to soak dried fruit for my fruitcake?
My fruitcake recipe calls for soaking dried fruit in molasses and wine overnight. I mixed that up and it's macerating in the fridge, but a surprise schedule change means I won't get it into a cake for another two days (a total of 72 hours of soaking, rather than the expected 24).
Is this going to negatively impact the consistency of the fruit bits in the fruitcake? I like them somewhat chewy, not extremely soft. (The "dried fruit" in question is this mix of peel, pineapple, and cherries, plus raisins.)
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I once macerated dried fruit in rum for a fruitcake. I forgot about the bowl in the back of the fridge and it must have been at least several months before I made the cake, which turned out great. I wouldn't expect wine and molasses to preserve as well as a distilled spirit, but several days is not a problem.
The Christmas cake recipe I use (from Mary Berry's Fast Cakes) soaks the fruit in sherry for 3 days (and doesn't call for refrigeration). It comes to no harm at all. I have tried less time, and that's OK but either way it needs a couple of stirs to ensure even soaking (this is more important for shorter soaks).
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