Fruitcake gets a modern makeover
Whether you love it or loathe it, no other confection says Christmas quite like this, Lesley Chesterman writes.
Like plum pudding and mince tarts, the idea, the smell and the look of these Christmas favourites are as comforting as a fireplace fronted by a Labrador retriever with Bing Crosby tunes playing in the background.
But one bite of most fruitcakes and that Christmas dream dissolves real fast. The crumbly texture, the waxy glacé cherries, the army-surplus green bits of mystery candied fruit, the bitter orange rind all combine to make the most unpleasant mouth feel, with an excess of molasses and spice adding to the icky factor.
As much as some adore traditional fruitcake, others are all too happy to repeat the old Johnny Carson joke: “The worst gift is a fruitcake. There is only one fruitcake in the entire world, and people keep sending it to each other.”
All too aware of fruitcake averse types, Montreal’s Ken Ilasz has been rethinking the traditional fruitcake since he began baking them commercially eight years ago.
“I started off making cakes for family members using my grandmother’s recipe,” he says.
“My mother was a great baker and she brought these cakes to church basement bake sales when I was a kid in Toronto. I don’t see fruit cake as a Christmas cake, I think of it as a festive cake for all seasons.”
Though Ilasz based his production on his grandmother’s recipe, he has taken his fruitcake offerings in all sorts of directions.
“I now make nine flavours,” he says, “yet the most popular remains the traditional fruitcake but made with maple syrup. The ‘Epiphany’ cake is also a good seller, and that one is made with Kirsch-infused dried choke cherries from Saskatchewan and cranberries grown in Quebec, and contains no molasses or spices. It’s surprising how many people don’t like spice.”
Other inventive cake combinations include the Toucan, made with maple syrup, Brazilian chocolate and candied ginger, and the Skvortsov, filled with haskap berries, macadamia nuts, apricots and walnuts.
By breaking out of the traditional fruitcake profile, Ilasz’s aim is not only to re-think a classic but draw in new customers.
“I want to sell to a younger crowd,” he says, “the people who haven’t even heard of fruitcake because their parents never made it. I see my mission as educating people about fruitcake and the best way to do that is through quality.”
When eating fruitcake, Ilasz likes his cut thin and layered with slices of aged cheddar cheese, or better yet, with a nugget of foie gras and a drizzle of maple syrup.
“People come back here year after year,” says Ilasz, “and they thank me for this cake because it reminds them of their childhood. To the others I say, ‘just try it.’ ”
To order Ilasz’s fruitcake by mail, go to kensfruitcake.com.