[Sca-cooks] One of the original fruitcakes has beenadmitted to ;

[Edouard de Bruyerecourt]

> Edouard, somewhere I have a British professional baker's vocational
> school textbook, written in the 1950's, and the recipe for a "bride
> cake" (presumably a wedding cake, which may or may not be
> complimented by a separate "groom cake") is pretty much the fruitcake
> you describe above, so the practice is old, but apparently still
> common as recently as 50 years ago, or less.

In the same home encyclopaedia are complimentary recipies for bridesmaid's
cake and groomsmen's cake. They have to be made together, as they share
parts of ingredients: one had more yolks than whites, the other more whites
than yolks.

Stray thought, not related to wedding cakes but to fruitcakes associated
with the winter holidays, is that given the sugar content and it's
preservative effects on the cake, a fruitcake might make an economical way
to keep fruit, nuts, and a little grain past the harvest and through the
winter. Certainly a high calorie/carbohydrate food for the caloric demands
of the season.

Edouard