A strong-tasting cake with candied fruit, nuts and spices that's sometimes soaked in spirits and frosted, fruit cake engenders equally strong opinions from its fans and naysayers alike.
“Always loved fruit cake, used to make my own, now I buy them,” said Janice Peer, answering NorthernLife.ca's Facebook callout for people's thoughts on the traditional Christmas treat.
Jeanne Bernetchez-delaMorandiere, however, had just one word for fruit cake: “Yuk!”
Another woman said she's had a change of heart when it comes to fruit cake. “Used to hate it, but now I love it,” said Louise Haché Gaudet.
The earliest fruit cake recipe is from ancient Rome, and lists pomegranate seeds, pine nuts and raisins mixed into barley mash.
Fruit cake proliferated all over Europe, with recipes varying greatly by country and depending on available ingredients.
In England, fruit cake is traditionally served at Christmas or weddings. The tradition of eating fruit cake at Christmas also exists here in Canada, especially among those of British heritage.
If fruit cake is soaked in alcohol, it could remain edible for many years. In 2003, Jay Leno of “The Tonight Show” famously sampled a fruit cake baked in 1878 and kept as ah heirloom by a Michigan family.
Johnny Carson, Leno's predecessor on “The Tonight Show,” turned the long-keeping nature of the fruit cake into a joke, saying there's really only one fruit cake in the world, passed from family to family.
Despite fruit cake's deep roots in western society, several local bakeries contacted by NorthernLife.ca said they no longer make the treat.
Regency Bakery owner Max Massimiliano said he stopped making fruit cake about 15 years ago because not enough people were buying it.
“That generation of people that grew up with it are slowing dying off,” he said. “It's not part of popular culture to have fruit cake for Christmas.”
Regency still sells panettone, an Italian cake filled with candied fruits that's similar to fruit cake, but Massimiliano said even that tradition is waning for the same reason.
“It's not as popular as it used to be,” he said.
The Sudbury Shrine Club still sells fruit cake as a Christmas fundraiser, although in recent years it's also added chocolate truffles and Scottish shortbread.
As someone who grew up in England, Shriner Lionel Rudd said he's a fruit cake fan. He said he enjoys eating a slice with sharp cheddar cheese and a glass of brandy, and even makes his own fruit cake. It's an indulgence he just can't do without, even though fruit cake has “about a million calories a slice.”
But he admits the younger generation doesn't feel the same way he does.
“My kids have a take-it-or-leave-it attitude,” Rudd said. “You've got very few people that dislike it. But you've got a few people who are indifferent. Then you've got some people who will be attracted to it and search for it.”
Shriners fruit cakes
Sudbury Shrine Club's famous fruit cake — as well as Scottish shortcake and truffles — are available at several locations until Christmas. This includes the Southridge Mall, the Superstore, the New Sudbury Shopping Centre, the South End Walmart and the Shrine Centre on Elm Street. Phone 705-524-0335.
