When attending a family gathering, one of the treats you can get your hands on is a piece of cake. This cake would contain dried fruits, spices, nuts, and candied fruits. You may think an ordinary cake is all that you’ve got. Well, it’s not ordinary, at all; it’s a piece of the traditional fruit cake!
Here are some interesting facts about the traditional fruit cake:
1: The First Recipe
The first fruit cake recipe came from the Romans. Back then, this cake called Satura involved raisins, pine nuts, and pomegranate seeds combined with barley mash. Later on, a few more ingredients made it to the list. These were spices, honey, and preserved fruits.
2: A Classic Celebratory Delight for British Royalty
Did you know that you could have a piece of fruit cake during Princess Diana and Prince Charles’ wedding? How about a piece during Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s wedding? And, how about another piece during Kate Middleton and Prince William’s wedding?
When members of the British royal family commemorate a special occasion, fruit cake is rarely missing.
3: Fruit Cake Longevity is a Beauty
The outstanding longevity of the traditional fruit cake is certainly worth mentioning. So long as you observe proper storage practices (e.g. seal in an airtight jar, add preservatives), you can delight in fruit cake for decades! The secret of its impressive shelf life is in the alcohol. When it contains a great deal of alcohol, fruit cake can remain edible for a long time.
In fact, Antarctic Heritage Trust described fruit cake that’s more than 100 years old to be in excellent condition. Additionally, in a 1983 article featured in New York Times, a man named Russel Baker said he owns fruit cake that a relative baked in 1794.
