Classic Southern Desserts

My mother may be the last living person on earth who makes fruitcakes. Her mother before her — my maternal grandmother made them, and I’m guessing my great-grandmother made them, too. A fruitcake is definitely a classic Southern dessert, but by the time I’m a grandmother, it will also be an extinct Southern dessert. And, I for one, am glad.

I hate fruitcake. It’s way too chewy, and all those candied fruits aren’t anything like real fruit. They’re shiny and slippery and look like what you use at Halloween to scare kids by telling them they’re holding eyeballs. And heavy, oh my gosh. Yes, fruitcake it supposed to be “dense” cake, and it certainly is. But any cake that fills you up for hours after two bites is way too dense for me.

We always had a fruitcake during the holidays when I was little, and my mother served it after every meal. I don’t know if my father liked it or not, or if he was just keeping the peace. For a while, my mother got into frozen fruit cake in miniature muffin papers. That was even worse.

So before fruitcake dies out all together, I’m giving it one last chance. (By talking about it; not eating it). Got any good fruitcake stories?

Trackback URI | Comments RSS