Fruitcake

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A slice of traditional fruitcake

Fruitcake is a cake made of dried fruits and optionally candied fruit, spices and nuts that may be soaked in brandy or rum, the richest versions (possibly iced) often being used in the celebration of weddings and Christmas.

1 History
2 In the USA
3 In the UK
4 Other meanings
5 See also
6 Notes
7 External links

[edit] History

The earliest recipe from ancient Rome lists pomegranate seeds, pine nuts, and raisins that were mixed into barley mash.

In the Middle Ages, honey, spices, and preserved fruits were added and the name fruitcake was first used, from a combination of the Latin fructus, and French frui or frug.^[1]

Starting in the 16th century, inexpensive sugar from the American Colonies, and the discovery that high concentrations of sugar could preserve fruits, created an excess of candied fruit, thus making fruitcakes more affordable and popular^[2]

In the 18th century, Europeans were baking fruitcakes using nuts from the harvest for good luck in the following year. The cake was saved and eaten before the harvest of the next year, so it was about a year old when eaten. Fruitcakes proliferated until a law restricted them to Christmas, weddings, and a few other holidays because they were considered "sinfully" rich.^[1] Even so, the fruitcake remained popular at Victorian Teas in England throughout the 19th century.

[edit] In the USA

Mail-order fruitcakes in America began in 1913. Collin Street Bakery in Corsicana, Texas, and The Claxton Bakery in Claxton, Georgia are famous American makers of fruitcake. Both Colin Street and Claxton are southern companies with access to cheap nuts, for which the expression "nutty as a fruitcake" was derived in 1935.^[2]

Most American mass-produced fruitcakes are alcohol free, but traditional recipes are saturated with liqueurs or brandy, and covered in powdered sugar, both of which prevent mold. Brandy or wine-soaked linens can be used to store the fruitcakes, and some people feel fruitcakes improve with age.

In the US, the fruitcake has become a highly ridiculed dessert and its reputation has declined over the years. Some blame the beginning of this trend with Tonight Show host Johnny Carson.^[2] He would joke that there really is only one fruitcake in the world, passed from family to family. Carson is no longer alive but the tradition lives on with "The Fruitcake Lady" (Marie Rudisill), who makes appearances on the show and offers her "fruitcake" opinions.

For the last twelve years over 500 people have shown up in Manitou Springs, Colorado each January for the Great Fruitcake Toss. "We encourage the use of recycled fruitcakes", says Leslie Lewis of the Manitou Springs Chamber of Commerce. The all-time Great Fruitcake Toss record is 1,420 feet, set in January 2007 by a group of eight Boeing engineers, who built the Omega 380, a mock artillery piece fueled by compressed air, pumped by an exercise bike.

Countless other examples of fruitcake references exist in comedy acts, movies, TV shows and other forms of popular culture which are too indiscriminate to list for the scope of this article.

[edit] In the UK

In the UK, fruitcakes come in many varieties, from extremely light to those that are far moister and richer than their American counterparts, and remain extremely popular. The traditional Christmas cake is a fruitcake covered in marzipan, and then in white satin or royal icing. They are often further decorated with snow scenes, holly leaves and berries (real or artificial), or tiny decorative robins or snowmen.

[edit] Other meanings

Fruitcake is also used, especially in the United Kingdom and the United States, as insulting slang for a 'crazy person' (e.g. "he's a complete fruitcake"). It is derived from the expression "nutty as a fruitcake", which was first recorded in 1935. [1]