{{short description|Cake made with candied or dried fruit, nuts, and spices}} {{Other uses|Fruitcake (disambiguation)}} {{more citations needed|date=August 2021}} {{Infobox food | name = Fruitcake | image = Bara Brith (3320696816).jpg | caption = Bara Brith, a traditional fruitcake loaf from Wales | alternate_name = | country = Europe | region = Various | creator = Originally from Roman times | course = | type = Cake | served = | main_ingredient = Candied fruit and/or dried fruit, nuts, spices, sugars, flour | variations = Quickbread or yeasted. Can optionally be soaked in liquor. Many varied combinations of dried fruits and nuts possible. Sometimes topped with icing. }}
'''Fruitcake''' or '''fruit cake''' is a cake made with candied or dried fruit, nuts, and spices, and optionally soaked in spirits.<ref name="KitGardenFruitcake">{{cite web |author=Kitchen & Garden |title=Traditional Christmas Fruit Cake: A Guide to the Rich British Version |url=https://kitandgarden.blog/traditional-christmas-fruit-cake/ |website=Kitchen & Garden |access-date=2026-01-22 |date=2025-11-28 |language=en-GB}}</ref> In the United Kingdom, certain rich versions may be iced and decorated.
Fruitcakes are usually served in celebration of weddings and Christmas. Given their rich nature, fruitcakes are most often consumed on their own, as opposed to with condiments (such as butter or cream).<ref>Rowan, Terry. [https://books.google.com/books?id=AzuyCQAAQBAJ&dq=Given+their+rich+nature%2C+fruit+cake+is+most+often+consumed+on+its+own%2C+as+opposed+to+with+condiments+%28such+as+butter+or+cream%29.&pg=PA82 ''Having a Wonderful Christmas Time Film Guide'']. Retrieved June 12, 2015.</ref> Fruit cake is different to fruit bread, but may share similar toppings and mixtures.
==History== [[File:Decorated Simnel cake (14173161143).jpg|thumb|A traditional Easter Simnel cake]]
The earliest recipe from ancient Rome lists pomegranate seeds, pine nuts, and raisins that were mixed into barley mash.{{sfnp|Vehling|1977}} In the Middle Ages, honey, spices, and preserved fruits were added.
Fruitcakes soon proliferated all over Europe. Recipes varied greatly in different countries throughout the ages, depending on the available ingredients, as well as (in some instances) church regulations forbidding the use of butter, regarding the observance of Fasting. Pope Innocent VIII (1432–1492) finally granted the use of butter, in a written permission known as the ‘Butter Letter' or ''Butterbrief'' in 1490, giving permission to Saxony to use milk and butter in the ''Stollen'' fruitcakes.<ref>[http://www.stollen-online.de/dresdnerstollen/geschichte-eng.htm Stollen history]</ref>
Starting in the 16th century, 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.<ref name=sietsema>Robert Sietsema. [http://www.villagevoice.com/nyclife/0247,sietsema,40011,15.html "A Short History of Fruitcake"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080618100023/http://www.villagevoice.com/nyclife/0247,sietsema,40011,15.html |date=2008-06-18 }}, ''The Village Voice'', November 20–26, 2002.</ref> The 17th-century English fruitcake was originally yeast-leavened, with the rum and dried fruit helping to extend the shelf life of the cake.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Goldstein|first=Darra|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jbi6BwAAQBAJ|title=The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets|date=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-931339-6|pages=171|language=en}}</ref>
==In various countries== === Australia === {{unref section|date=January 2026}} In Australia, fruitcake is consumed throughout the year, but most commonly at Christmas, and is available at most major retail outlets. The cake is rarely given icing; often it is consumed with butter or margarine, or custard.
=== Bahamas === {{unref section|date=January 2026}} In the Bahamas, not only is the fruitcake drenched with rum, but the ingredients are as well. All of the candied fruits, walnuts, and raisins are placed in an enclosed container and are soaked with the darkest variety of rum, anywhere from 2 weeks to 3 months in advance. The cake ingredients are mixed, and once the cake has finished baking, rum is poured onto it while it is still hot.
=== Bulgaria === {{unref section|date=January 2026}}thumb|Keks sold in a shop In Bulgaria, the common fruitcake is known as ''keks'' ({{langx|bg|кекс}} {{IPA|bg|kɛks|}}), is home-made and is consumed throughout the year. Recipes for ''keks'' vary, but commonly it contains flour, butter and/or cooking oil, milk, yeast, yoghurt, eggs, cocoa, walnuts, and raisins. It is usually baked in Bundt-style pans.
There is also another specific type of fruitcake prepared for Easter, which is known as kozunak ({{langx|bg|козунак|links=no}} {{IPA|bg|kozuˈnak|}}).
=== Canada === {{unref section|date=January 2026}} The fruitcake is commonly eaten during the Christmas season in Canada. Rarely is it seen during other times of the year. The Canadian fruitcake is similar in style to the UK version. However, there is rarely icing on the cake, and alcohol is not commonly put into Christmas cakes that are sold. The cakes are shaped like a small loaf of bread, and often covered in marzipan.
Dark, moist and rich Christmas fruitcakes are the most frequently consumed, with white Christmas fruitcake less common. These cakes tend to be made in mid-November to early December when the weather starts to cool down. They also can be a gift generally exchanged between business associates and close friends/family.
It is called ''gâteau aux fruits'' in Quebec and New-Brunswick.
=== Chile === {{unref section|date=January 2026}} Pan de Pascua is a fruitcake traditionally eaten around Christmas and Epiphany.
=== France === {{unref section|date=January 2026}} In France, fruitcake is called ''cake aux fruits confits''.
=== Germany === In German, fruitcake means Früchtebrot, which is used both as a general and as specific name. In Germany, baked goods which fit the description of fruitcake are not usually regarded as cake but rather as sweet breads.<ref name="CollinStreetGermany">{{cite web |title=Fruitcakes from Around the World |url=https://collinstreet.com/blogs/stories/fruitcakes-from-around-the-world |website=Collin Street Bakery |access-date=2026-01-22 |quote=German Stollen is a buttery, yeast-based fruit bread filled with nuts, spices, and dried fruit... finished with a dusting of powdered sugar.}}</ref><ref name="KitGardenFruitcake">{{cite web |author=Kitchen & Garden |title=Traditional Christmas Fruit Cake: A Guide to the Rich British Version |url=https://kitandgarden.blog/traditional-christmas-fruit-cake/ |website=Kitchen & Garden |access-date=2026-01-22 |date=2025-11-28 |language=en-GB}}</ref>
thumb|''Dresdner Stollen'' ''Stollen'' is loaf-shaped and often powdered with icing sugar on the outside. It is usually made with yeast, butter, water, and flour, with the addition of citrus zest, candied citrus peel, raisins, and almonds.<ref name="CollinStreetGermany">{{cite web |title=Fruitcakes from Around the World |url=https://collinstreet.com/blogs/stories/fruitcakes-from-around-the-world |website=Collin Street Bakery |access-date=2026-01-22 |quote=German Stollen is a buttery, yeast-based fruit bread filled with nuts, spices, and dried fruit... finished with a dusting of powdered sugar.}}</ref>
The most famous Stollen is the ''Dresdner Stollen'',<ref>[http://lexikon.meyers.de/meyers/Stollen Meyers Lexikon] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091231030722/http://lexikon.meyers.de/meyers/Stollen |date=2009-12-31 }}: "Besonders bekannt ist der Dresdner Stollen" ("the ''Dresden Stollen'' is especially well-known")</ref> sold at the Dresden Christmas market, the Striezelmarkt. Official ''Dresden Stollen'', produced by only 150 bakers in Dresden and some adjacent settlements, bears a special seal depicting Elector Augustus II the Strong. Typically, it is covered with a crust of compacted powdered sugar around 1 cm thick, but it is actually defined by its richness in butter and certain fruit and nuts: Per kilogram flour, ''Dresdner Stollen'' is mandated by law to contain at least 650 grams sultanas, 500 grams of butter, 200 grams succade, and 150 grams of almonds.<ref>[https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/DE/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.C_.2010.046.01.0017.01.DEU Veröffentlichung des Antrags zum Schutz der Bezeichnung „Dresdner Stollen“ usw. im Amtsblatt der europäischen Union] mit genauer Produktspezifikation</ref> The recipe originated in 1491, when after several generations of lobbying by Elector Ernest, Duke Albert III, and their ancestors, Pope Innocent VIII gave an exemption to the Roman Catholic ban on using butter during Lent to Saxon bakers.<ref>[https://www.schwyzkultur.ch/artikel/schwyz/dies-und-das/butterbrief-und-paepstliche-bulle_A61fNCd «Butterbrief» und «päpstliche Bulle» – Nachrichten – SchwyzKultur]</ref> thumb|German ''Früchtebrot''
In Bremen, the local fruitcake called Klaben is traditionally sold and eaten during the Christmas season. ''Bremer Klaben'' is a kind of stollen which is not dusted with powdered sugar after baking. Both ''Dresdner Stollen'' and ''Bremen Klaben'' are protected geographical indications.
In Southern Germany and the Alpine region, ''Früchtebrot'' (also called ''Berewecke'', ''Birnenbrot'', ''Hutzenbrot'', ''Hutzelbrot'', ''Kletzenbrot'', ''Schnitzbrot'', or ''Zelten'') is a sweet, dark bread baked with nuts and dried fruit, e.g. apricots, figs, dates, plums, etc.
=== India === {{unref section|date=January 2026}} In India, fruitcake is found everywhere during the Christmas season, although it is also available commonly throughout the year.
=== Ireland === {{unref section|date=January 2026}}[[File:Barmbrack.jpg|thumb|Irish barmbrack]] In Ireland, a type of sweetbread called barmbrack is eaten at Halloween. The cake contains different objects such as a ring or small coin, each signifying a different fortune for the person who finds it.
=== Italy === {{unref section|date=January 2026}}[[File:Panettone - Nicolettone 2017 - IMG 7092 (31752504105).jpg|thumb|Italian panettone is a yeast-leavened fruitcake.]] Panforte is a chewy, dense Tuscan fruitcake dating back to 13th-century Siena. Panforte is strongly flavored with spices (''panforte'' means "strong bread") and baked in a shallow form. Genoa's fruitcake, a lower, denser but still crumbly variety, is called pandolce ("sweet bread").
There are various types of fruitcakes from the Emilia-Romagna region, most being dark and heavily spiced with an abundance of candied fruit and nuts. The ''certosino'' from Bologna is a round cake similar to panforte but with aromatic spices and a variety of whole-halved candied fruit decorating the top; dark chocolate is often added to the dough for a richer flavour. The certosino is low and very dense. ''Panone'', produced in much of Emilia, is similar to the certosino, but with a lighter, fluffier dough and candied fruit inside the cake rather than used as decoration. ''Panpepato'' from Ferrara has a dough similar to panone but has a higher ginger content. Candied fruit is not often found and instead there is a high concentration of nuts within the dough; the entire cake is often coated in dark chocolate.
''Gubana'' is a Christmas/holiday cake from the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, specifically from the area around Cividale del Friuli. It is a leavened dough cake with a filling of nuts, dried fruit, sugar, and grappa which is rolled into a spiral filled tube which is then twisted into the shape of a rose or snail's shell. Gubana is often eaten with alcohol (slivovitz or grappa) around the holiday season. It combines Italian, Friulan, and Slovenian tastes and cooking styles to create a unique sweet.
Panettone is a Milanese sweet bread (widely available throughout Italy and in many other countries), served around Christmas, which is traditionally filled with dried and candied fruits, with a bread-like consistency.
=== New Zealand === {{unref section|date=January 2026}} Fruitcakes arrived in New Zealand with early settlers from Britain. Until the 1960s fruitcake was generally homemade, but since then has become commercially widely available in a range of styles. Light coloured fruitcake is often sold as ''tennis cake'' or ''light fruit-cake'' all year round.
Most New Zealand wedding cakes are finely iced and decorated fruitcake often several tiers high. Most fruitcake is eaten in the Christmas period. It is dark, rich and made from multiple dried fruits. Homemade cakes may use brandy or sherry to enhance flavour rather than as a preservative. They may be square or round, iced or uniced. A Christmas cake is usually simply decorated with a Christmas scene or the words Merry Christmas.
=== Poland === {{unref section|date=January 2026}}thumb|Polish ''keks'' ''Keks'' is a traditional fruitcake eaten during Christmas season. It is a loaf shaped sponge cake with a substantial content of nuts, raisins, figs and candied fruits.
=== Portugal === {{unref section|date=January 2026}} Although French in its origin, Bolo Rei is a traditional fruitcake enjoyed during Christmas season and a staple dessert in any Portuguese home during the holidays. Included is the characteristic fava bean and, according to tradition, whoever finds the fava bean has to pay for the cake the following year.
=== Switzerland === Birnenbrot<ref>[http://www.schweizer-kochrezepte.ch/rezepte/schweiz/birnenbrot_aus_grosis_rezeptbuch.html Swiss recipes, Grandma´s Birnenbrot] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090412234743/http://www.schweizer-kochrezepte.ch/rezepte/schweiz/birnenbrot_aus_grosis_rezeptbuch.html |date=2009-04-12}}</ref> is a dense sweet Swiss fruitcake with candied fruits and nuts.
=== Anglophone Caribbean === {{unref section|date=January 2026}} Black cake, is a traditional part of Christmas celebration in the English Caribbean. The cake incorporates a large quantity of mixed fruits and rum/wine and becomes a treasured Christmas treat consumed and given out between the Christmas season and New Year. The fruit, wine and rum is prepared weeks, sometimes months, ahead, and has its origin in the English Christmas pudding, and can be quite expensive. It is very different from a North American fruitcake.
=== United Kingdom === [[File:North British Dundee cake.JPG|thumb|Dundee cake]]
In the UK, fruitcakes are made in types ranging from extremely light to rich and moist.
The traditional Christmas cake is a round fruitcake covered in marzipan and then in white royal icing or fondant icing. It is often further decorated with snow scenes, holly leaves and berries (real or artificial), or tiny decorative robins or snowmen. It is also the tradition for a similar kind of cake to be served at weddings.
In Yorkshire, fruitcake is often served accompanied with cheese. Fruitcakes in the United Kingdom often contain currants and glace cherries, an example of this type being the Genoa cake. A type of fruitcake which originated in Scotland, the Dundee Cake, owes its name to Keiller's marmalade. It does not contain glace cherries, but is decorated with almonds.
In Wales, bara brith is a type of fruitcake flavoured with tea, dried fruits and spices.
Fruitcake was historically referred to as plum cake in England from around 1700.<ref>{{cite book | last1=Goldstein | first1=D. | last2=Mintz | first2=S. | last3=Krondl | first3=M. | last4=Rath | first4=E. | last5=Mason | first5=L. | last6=Quinzio | first6=G. | last7=Heinzelmann | first7=U. | title=The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=2015 | isbn=978-0-19-931339-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jbi6BwAAQBAJ&pg=PA120 | page=120}}</ref>
=== United States === thumb|Two-year-aged brandy-soaked fruitcake Typical American fruitcakes are rich in fruit and nuts.
Mail-order fruitcakes in America began in 1913. Some well-known American bakers of fruitcake include Collin Street Bakery in Corsicana, Texas, and The Claxton Bakery in Claxton, Georgia. Both Collin Street and Claxton are Southern companies with inexpensive access to large quantities of nuts, for which the expression "nutty as a fruitcake" was derived in 1935.<ref name=sietsema/> Commercial fruitcakes are often sold from catalogues by charities as a fund raiser.
Fruitcakes are also made and sold by Christian monasteries, as a means of supporting the monks and nuns who reside there. Some well-known American monasteries which offer fruitcake include Abbey of Gethsemani, in Trappist, Kentucky; Assumption Abbey in Ava, Missouri; Monastery of the Holy Spirit, in Conyers, Georgia; and Trappist Abbey in Carlton, Oregon.<ref name="ForCashStrappedMonks">{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/12/20/506180471/for-cash-strapped-monks-selling-fruitcakes-is-a-saving-grace |title=For Cash-Strapped Monks, Selling Fruitcakes Is A Saving Grace |author=Helmer, Jodi |work=NPR |date=20 December 2016 |publisher=National Public Radio}}</ref><ref name="4Things">{{cite news|url=https://www.ajc.com/things-to-do/atlanta-winter-guide/4-things-you-probably-dont-know-about-fruitcake/TRILE4U6TFDXPKBW3YYZOUXO3I/ |title=4 things you probably don't know about fruitcake |author=Boyce, Hunter |newspaper=The Atlanta Journal-Constitution}}</ref> The fruitcake produced by the Trappists of the Abbey of Gethsemani in Trappist, Kentucky earned the "best overall fruitcake" accolade from The Wall Street Journal.<ref name="TasteTheBooze">{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB952614507604421993 |title=In a Good Fruit Cake You Can Taste the Booze |author= |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |date=21 November 1998}}</ref> During an interview on Russell Howard's Good News, astronaut Chris Hadfield recounted that a fruitcake made by "Trappist monks in the Ozarks" was found and served aboard the International Space Station during Hadfield's tenure as commander.
Most American mass-produced fruitcakes are alcohol-free, but those made according to traditional recipes are saturated with liqueurs or brandy and covered in powdered sugar, both of which prevent mould. Brandy (or wine) soaked linens can be used to store the fruitcakes, and some people feel that fruitcakes improve with age.{{Citation needed|date=February 2020}}
In the United States, fruitcake has become a ridiculed dessert, in part due to inexpensive mass-produced cakes of questionable age. Some attribute the beginning of this trend to ''The Tonight Show'' host Johnny Carson.<ref name=sietsema/> He would joke that there is really only one fruitcake in the world, passed from family to family. After Carson's death, the tradition continued with "The Fruitcake Lady" (Marie Rudisill), who made appearances on the show and offered her "fruitcake" opinions. In fact, the fruitcake had been a butt of jokes on television programs such as ''Father Knows Best'' and ''The Donna Reed Show'' years before ''The Tonight Show'' debuted. It appears to have first become a vilified confection in the early 20th century, as evidenced by Warner Bros. cartoons. It has also been used as a derogatory term for people who are considered weak, strange, or insane.
Since 1995, Manitou Springs, Colorado, has hosted the Great Fruitcake Toss on the first Saturday of every January. Leslie Lewis of the Manitou Springs Chamber of Commerce said that they encourage the use of recycled fruitcakes. 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.<ref>Photos from the 2009 event: www.blueskiesbb.com/fruitcake-popup.html</ref>
== Shelf life == When a fruitcake contains a good deal of alcohol, it can be preserved for many years. For example, a fruitcake baked in 1878 has been kept as an heirloom by a family in Tecumseh, Michigan; as of 2019, the baker's great-great-granddaughter is the custodian of the cake.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20097708,00.html|title=Holidays—and Centuries—Come and Go, but for the Faithful Fords, It's Semper Fidelia's Fruitcake|date=November 30, 1987|work=People Magazine|access-date=April 9, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-12-16 |title=A Michigan family has preserved a fruitcake that was baked in 1878 |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/trending/trending-globally/michigan-family-passes-down-141-year-old-fruitcake-as-heirloom-6169741/ |access-date=2022-09-27 |website=The Indian Express |language=en}}</ref> Wrapping the cake in alcohol-soaked linen before storing is one method of lengthening its shelf life.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}
A 106-year-old fruitcake discovered in 2017 by the Antarctic Heritage Trust was described as in "excellent condition" and "almost" edible.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/13/world/europe/fruitcake-antarctica-scott.html|title=Fruitcake From Robert Scott Expedition Is 'Almost' Edible at 106 Years Old|date=August 15, 2017|work=The New York Times|access-date=August 14, 2017}}</ref>
== See also == {{Portal|Food}} {{div col|colwidth=30em}} * List of cakes * List of fruit dishes * List of sweet breads * Bara brith * Christmas cake * Christmas pudding * Clementine cake * Crema de fruta * Fig cake * Kulich (bread) * Panettone * Plum cake * Stollen {{div col end}}
== References == ===Citations=== {{Reflist|2}}
===Works cited=== * {{cite book |title=Apicius: Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome |first=Joseph Dommers |last=Vehling |publisher=Dover Publications |year=1977 |isbn=0-486-23563-7}}
{{Cakes}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Christmas cakes Category:Alcoholic cakes Category:Fruit cakes Category:Wedding food Category:Yeast cakes