Happy National Fruitcake Day!
Fruitcakes have been around since Ancient Rome, with early recipes including pomegranate seeds, pine nuts, and raisins. Honey, spices, and preserved fruits were added in the Middle Ages, and fruitcakes soon proliferated all over Europe. Thanks to sugar from the American colonies, there was an excess of candied fruit, making fruitcakes more affordable and popular.
In the UK, fruitcake isn’t just a Christmas treat! British royals have used it as a wedding cake for many years. It was served at the weddings of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip, Prince Charles and Princess Diana, and Prince William and Kate Middleton. In November, a 77-year-old slice of fruitcake from Queen Elizabeth II’s wedding was sold at auction for $3,000!
Mail-order fruitcakes were first offered in America in 1913. One of the most well-known fruitcake bakeries is Collin Street Bakery in Corsicana, Texas. They sell around 3 million pounds of fruitcake every year! And their fruitcakes have some famous fans – descendants of the Ringling circus, Princess Caroline of Monaco, and Vanna White are all clients!
Most mass-produced fruitcakes are alcohol-free. However, traditional recipes are saturated with liqueurs or brandy and covered in powdered sugar, both of which prevent mold. That means fruitcakes can be preserved for many years. Take, for example, a fruitcake baked in 1878, which has been kept as an heirloom by a Michigan family. The baker’s great-great-granddaughter is now the keeper of the cake.
Fruitcake has become a ridiculed dessert here in the U.S., which many attribute to Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. Jay Leno continued the tradition with “The Fruitcake Lady”, aka Marie Rudisill, who appeared in regular “Ask the Fruitcake Lady” segments.
Every year on the first Saturday of January, the town of Manitou Springs, Colorado hosts the Great Fruitcake Toss. The all time record is 1,420 feet, accomplished in January 2007 by a team of Boeing engineers.
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