Does Anyone Really Eat Holiday Fruitcake?

I saw that one of my foodie friends posted on Facebook the other day that he is making and selling holiday fruitcakes. And they’re like 40 bucks apiece. Wait… are we talking about those weird cake loaves that we always saw when we were little kids? I’m pretty sure that we had an unopened one floating around our house for years when I was young. Even if we were starving I don’t think we would have eaten it. I’d sooner go outside and forage for food in the woods.

Maybe fruitcakes have gotten better over the years, but they looked pretty gross back then. Here’s a quote from my Facebook friend’s post. “These rich cakes are filled with a variety of dried and candied fruits, scented with warm spices and wrapped in bourbon bathed cheesecloth.” Nope, it just doesn’t do it for me. Candied fruit? Dried fruit? Cheese cloth? Please just give me a piece of pumpkin pie or chocolate cake.

Am I alone in this? Do holiday fruitcakes just have a bad reputation, or are they truly as horrible as they look? Obviously there are people willing to plunk down 40 bucks to buy one of these because my Facebook friend is selling them and it’s not the first year that he’s doing this. Who are these fruitcake loving people? The same people that would rather have candied fruit in their cannoli cream than chocolate chips?

If you are a fan of holiday fruitcake, maybe you can share with me what you find so appealing. I’ve never been a fan of cooked, dried, or candied fruit, but even the cake around the fruit seems… well… yucky. Convince me otherwise, and maybe I’ll try holiday fruitcake for the very first time this year. Or maybe not.