Buffalo Rising Online

Nov 25th 2007, 3:33pm By Christa Glennie Seychew

When my husband and I were married a decade ago I inherited a large group of in-laws, a group easily twice the size of my family. One of them is my great Aunt Karen Marie (not my Great Aunt Karen, but rather my Aunt who is really great), a well-liked, tough-as-nails nun (with the requisite heart of gold) who teaches at Holy Angels Academy.

This year, on Thanksgiving, when my husband’s side of the family exchanged Christmas Wish Lists, I noticed that Aunt Karen’s modest list included a request for a fruitcake--again.

Aunt Karen has been putting fruitcakes on her Christmas Wish List since I first met her oh-so-many years ago. Before this began, I didn’t know that anybody ever really ate them; I thought that they were simply a cultural sight gag. Now, not only is Aunt Karen willing to consume a fruit cake, she’s even put it on her Christmas List with the full understanding that it may possibly edge out other more easily obtained items like jarred candles from AC Moore and gift cards for JC Penney’s.

“Where do you buy a good fruitcake?” I asked her after she handed me the list.

“Claxton, Georgia,” she responded with firm and passionate certainty.

“Isn’t there anywhere around here where I could get you a good fruitcake?” I asked again, “I don’t even know what would separate a good fruit cake from a bad one. What is it exactly?”

But at that point our casual conversation was interrupted by the goings-on of a large family meal and I was left to ponder the situation. I don’t have any idea what sort of characteristics make a fruitcake desirable. But I know that Karen does, being a connoisseur of sorts. She’s told me in the past about how she’ll relish a good fruitcake by taking only very small pieces over the course of many months, a level of restraint that only works with food items that are impenetrable.

I have found myself in circumstances similar to this before, and normally I would undertake the privilege of developing the best recipe for (insert any longed-for dessert name here), but I have no desire to make a fruitcake. I dislike candied fruit and I’m not a fan of most food items that have been preserved with alcohol, so the process of fine tuning this recipe would be entirely unpleasant in addition to the fact that I wouldn’t even know if I was making “good” fruitcake or just another saturated cake-brick relegated to use as a bookend or doorstop. Yet if anyone is going to find Aunt Karen a good fruitcake that doesn’t come from Claxton, it should be me.

I did a little looking around on the web, hopeful that my search for a good fruitcake would yield Buffalo area results. But, no such luck. Initial googling revealed the national attention that Wing King Drew Cerza’s 2003 orchestration of a fruitcake eating contest in the Ellicott Square Building garnered, but no websites for the best ever Buffalo fruitcake magically appeared.

So, I’m asking you Buffalo, what makes a good fruitcake? Do you make fruitcake every year, and if so, why? Is there a little old lady, church group or corner bakery manufacturing crazy good fruitcakes in your neighborhood? I want to know about it. Please help me find Aunt Karen a good fruitcake.