The name Fruit Cake can be traced back to about the 1400s.

In the 18th century, Europeans were baking Fruit Cakes using nuts from the harvest for good luck in the following year. The cake was saved and eaten before the next harvest. Fruit Cake was extremely popular between 1837 and 1901 at Victorian Teas. In fact, it was said that no British Tea was complete without the cake.

Mail-order Fruit Cakes began in the 1913s.

What I found most intriguing about the Fruit Cake history was in England, at the end of the 18th century there were laws enforced restricting the use of Fruit Cake to Christmas, Easter, Weddings, Christenings and Funerals.

Our wedding cake, some twenty seven years ago was a three tier dark rum soaked Fruit Cake. My neighbor who was a retired baker from the Dominion Grocery Store baked the cake as a  gift to us. The top tier of the cake was saved for the Christening of our first child and this practice remains a tradition today.

Many people believe Fruit Cake improves with age and if you are a Fruit Cake lover as am I you will have to agree.

My cakes are baked in a low temperature oven over several hours. When the cakes cool they are wrapped in a rum soaked cheesecloth, two layers of waxed paper, a layer of saran wrap and finished with a decorative celowrap and label. The cakes are then stored in a cool dark area.

Just recently we were able to trace the family history of the fruit cake back to approximately 125 years.

I have been told by many that my Fruit Cake has brought back fond memories of the cakes that great grandma used to bake.  I had one woman tell me that my cakes brought back the fondest memories of when she lived on the base with her family.  Every year her father would bake his fruit cakes and store them on the top bunk.  My cake reminded her of the same aroma and flavour of her father's cakes.

My cakes are baked with love in Barrie, Ontario, and I am very proud to be sharing a part of this family history and recipe with each of you.