Okay. Bear with me. I know fruitcake is probably considered the least favourite cake in the world. That may be Johnny Carson’s fault: “The worst gift is a fruitcake. There is only one fruitcake in the entire world, and people keep sending it to each other.” There was reportedly a dip in fruitcake sales for years after this famous joke aired. But, our fruitcake is not the fruitcake of Johnny Carson’s comic musings. It is spectacular. It is full of the most delectable fruit. It is full of the most delicious rum. It is full of rich, aromatic spices. It is dark and moist and luxurious. And there’s nary a green glace cherry in sight.
Cost alone made fruitcake popular as a wedding and special occasion cake in the 18th and 19th centuries; it was seen as a “grand indulgence,” designed to prove one’s ability to afford one.
During WWI, soldiers overseas spoke fondly of receiving fruitcakes.
Fruitcake remained quite popular in the first half of the 20th century: It was the preferred dessert of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt; hostesses were sure to whip them up for Christmas parties; children anticipated their sweet arrival in winter months.
In Truman Capote’s story “A Christmas Memory,” making the fruitcake is described as a beloved ritual that creates a bond between the young and the old.
Somewhere along the line, whether it was Johnny Carson, or mediocre mail order and grocery store cakes or too many cheap ingredients, fruitcake lore took a terrible turn. It is often ridiculed today for being full of cheap ingredients, loaded with preservatives and lacking in quality. Not to mention those green glace cherries.
The fruitcake should be a seasonal treasure, a spiced, sugary treat laden with booze. The fact is, fruitcake, good fruitcake, deserves to make a comeback.
Whether you opt in to the resurgence of home baking and experiment with new ingredients or look to connect to your heritage, there are so many opportunities to create a fruitcake that is bright and bold and modern, or steeped in tradition. Plus, if you make it right, you can actually get a buzz.
(If baking isn’t your thing, no matter how trendy it is, you want to choose a fruitcake lovingly made by hand at your local bakery, like say, Sable Shortbread. Bakeries across North America from Texas to Nova Scotia (i..e. us!) are reviving the tradition. Some with traditional recipes, others are reaching for bold flavours and exotic fruits.
Our fruitcake is an indulgence made with the finest fruits, locally made craft rum, hand cut organic nuts, and lovingly assembled and baked to perfection. The modern fruitcake skips those cloyingly sweet glace cherries filled with artificial colour, flavour, preservatives and syrup. We banish those and replace them with delicately candied cherries that contain no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives. We seek out the finest candied peel – ours comes from France and Italy – and it is free from nasty ingredients.
We lovingly make our cakes in small batches and carefully watch them as they bake. When we make your cake, we are making it just for you. It’s personal and it’s about achieving the perfect balance of cake to fruit. And then comes the process of aging the cakes in locally made rum, ensuring each and every cake is pure indulgence. It takes weeks to achieve the perfect fruitcake.
And yes it is dense, and should be sliced thinly — it’s really a confection. And yes, it does last a very long time, but that’s because it’s impregnated with alcohol, and that’s definitely not a bad thing. Plus, you really should at least taste it before you regift it. Why, you ask.
Because our fruitcake has made more than one person realize they had never tasted “good fruitcake” until they tried ours. We’re not trying to brag here, but we have watched many people discover that fruitcake can be delicious.
Fruitcake is meant to be eaten in small portions: savoured, appreciated, enjoyed. Indulge this Christmas with a Sable Shortbread Fruitcake. You won’t be disappointed.
Put your order in now.