Have you ever given, or received the dreaded Xmas fruitcake?

We used to get one every year. Neither one of use could stand them so we would just give it to someone that liked it. That was better than throwing it away every year.
 
Bought our first fruit cake of the season yesterday at Publix. It is small - 13 oz - and is half gone already.

Merry Christmas!
 
I like Stollen and buy it in Lidl when it comes in store - usually early November. I wouldn't call it a fruitcake, but it does have a marzipan core.

I can't understand why people don't like a Christmas cake - unless the British cake is a different beast to the US ones.
We have just finished baking a 'Christmas cake' which will 'mature' with the aid of brandy until the Solstice.

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You don't have to eat the holly if you don't like it :giggle:
 
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Christmas fruitcake was a tradition at our house, a white and a dark one.
We loved them both.
I live alone now so don't make them but I don't understand why some people are
so down on this Christmas treat.
 
One of the best Xmas fruitcakes I've ever had, was one that I bought from a Carribean restaurant. It was homemade. Black cake, I think it was called .. and it had rum in it.
 
Fruitcakes can be a subcategory of the gifts often given, but seldom wanted. Home-made Xmas cookies are close relatives; Iā€™ve been given some that looked scrumptious, but had no flavor whatsoever. Some baked goods given to people like teachers can also come from, shall I say, questionable kitchens, those which may be hygienically impaired. A word to the wise is sufficient, and eat such at your own risk. Diarrhea and upset stomachs make a poor gift!

As for fruit cakes, most of what Iā€™ve had are store-bought Claxtonā€™s, and I wouldnā€™t go out of my way for themā€¦

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Stollen is lovely.

But I never know when Christmas cake should be eaten, it is so rich. We are so full after Christmas lunch that usually cannot face any more food until next day.
 
For the first few years of our marriage, husband and I made my family's traditional all fruits and nuts fruitcakes. I made them in wee rectangular moulds and we gave them to husband's office colleagues.

Thankfully, I had extra orders in time for the Holidays for full size cakes. They just loved them. By the fifth year, unfortunately, the prices of two main ingredients went through the roofs and we couldn't afford the tradition.

Funnily enough, that year (before the company went bust) there was a collection for us to make the wee cakes again. A total of 25 wee pound each cake were made.

Later on, mid-90s, I got to make one last one for our family. It didn't last the holidays, it was eaten over two days.

For the past 20 years, M&S is where We've purchased our fruitcakes bar with icing for the holidays. One is on the Christmas shopping list for 2023. Yummy!
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I cannot understand why fruitcakes are criticized, demonized. Is this just something to complain about?
Comedians make fun of them. I really like it, only they are high calorie and carbos.
I wish someone would give me a few. Mmmm-mm.
 
My Aunt would ALWAYS make a fruitcake...
every year...burnt bottom
so you just cut that off..
she really put in all the good ingrediens ..
so it was "pretty good"..
but, I was a kid...so what did I know'
 
I don't buy or make it - who has room for that after a huge Christmas dinner? I generally cannot eat anything again until boxing day.

Other times I like making a rich fruit cake, it smells gorgeous but a small slice is quite enough.
 
I LOVE fruitcake ! And eggnog ! Since I only have it once a year, it is a special treat and I enjoy both of them in small amounts over the holiday season. I add a little eggnog to my morning coffee, and sometimes have a bit of the fruitcake.
My mom always got a fruitcake from the store when I was growing up, and it came in a beautiful painted tin that she saved and used for storing something else.
I just get the little Claxton one from Walmart, and it satisfies that craving for holiday fruitcake.
 

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