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Joe Guzzardi stands with his award-winning fruit cake. He typically bakes 15 loaves each year to give to friends and family for Christmas. (Matthew Landi/News-Sentinel)
A tribute to the much-maligned fruitcake
It's been called a doorstop, a boat anchor and a brick. But this time of the year, many Lodi residents eat — yes, eat! — fruitcake, that traditional butt-of-all-jokes flavored with nuts, candied fruit and brandy.
"Fruitcake gets a bad rap, but it tastes good," said Lodi Cooks owner Teresa Puzon, a little defensively. She often gets fruitcake as a Christmas gift and hasn't changed her address yet.
She is not alone. Many agree that when a fruitcake is done right, it is a taste sensation.
Lodian Chris Kralj still has fond memories of the pecan and cherry-studded fruitcake that his mother used to order from Collins Street Bakery.
"Now that was a fruitcake," Kralj said. "Not like the fruitcake that some people make that gets passed around for months so by the time you get around to eating it, it's not worth eating."
Jan's Sweet Treasures owner Jan Haneke rarely gets requests for fruitcake, but still bakes loaves every year to tempt the uninitiated.
"Most people don't like all of that candied fruit so I use lighter fruits like pineapple. It's not so dense," Haneke said.
Lodian Joe Guzzardi also hopes to change anti-fruitcake sentiment. He wasn't a fan of fruitcake, especially commercial varieties. But after trying an Alton Brown recipe 10 years ago, he was hooked.
Guzzardi bakes about 15 loaves each year for family and friends and his recipe features dried bing cherries, O'Henry peaches, white nectarines and pluots, sourced from Lodi grower Steve Smit.
"There's really nothing not to like in there," said Guzzardi, whose recipe won second place last year at the San Joaquin County Fair.
And what kind of reaction does he get? Do people flee screaming into the night?
"They can't believe it," Guzzardi said, with a grin. "People say fruitcakes are terrible until they try mine."
Joe Guzzardi's award-winning fruitcake recipe
The following recipe earned News-Sentinel columnist Joe Guzzardi second place at the San Joaquin County Fair last year.
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 cup bing cherries
1/2 cup Thompson seedless raisins
1/2 cup dried O'Henry peaches
1/2 cup dried pluots
1/2 cup dried apricots
1/2 cup white nectarines
Zest of one lemon, chopped coarsely
Zest of one orange, chopped coarsely
1/4 cup candied ginger, chopped
1 cup dark rum
1 cup dark muscovado sugar
5 ounces unsalted buttter (1 1/4 sticks)
1 cup unfiltered apple juice
4 whole cloves, ground
6 allspice berries, ground
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
1/4 to 1/2 cup toasted pecans or walnuts (or mix)
Brandy for spritzing
Combine dried fruits, candied ginger and both zests. Add rum and soak overnight or longer. Place fruit and liquid in a non-reactive pot with the sugar, butter apple juice and spices. Bring mixture to a boil stirring often, then reduce heat and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and cool for at least 15 minutes.
Heat oven to 325 F. Combine dry ingredients and sift into fruit mixture. Quickly bring batter together with a large wooden spoon, then stir in eggs one at a time until completely integrated, then fold in nuts. Grease a 10-inch, non-stick loaf pan (I like to put margarine in the pan and set it in oven until margarine melts. Then use pastry brush to coat all sides of pan). Spoon mixture into pan and bake for 1 hour. Check for doneness by inserting toothpick into the middle of the cake. If it comes out clean, it's done. If not, bake another 10 minutes and check again. Remove cake from oven and place on cooling rack. Spritz top with brandy and allow to cool completely before turning out from pan.
When cake is completely cooled, seal in a tight sealing, food safe container. Every 2 to 3 days, feel the cake and if dry, spritz with brandy.
Best mail-order fruitcakes
Recommended
• Assumption Abbey Fruitcake in Ava, Mo.
Two-pound cake can be purchased through Williams-Sonoma (http://www.williams-sonoma.com) for $42 or ordered directly from the abbey (http://www.assumptionabbey.org) for $26. Baked by Trappist monks, this fruitcake received more first-place votes than any other we sampled, largely because no one element was overpowering. The rum, spices and fruit all worked well together.
• Butterfield Farms in St. Louis, Mo.
Two-pound cake can be purchased at http://www.butterfieldfarms.com for $24.95. While many tasters didn't like the color of this almost blonde cake, the consensus was that it tasted the least like fruitcake, making it the favorite of the "I don't like fruitcake" camp. Some picked up on a butterscotch flavor, some said it tasted like a Snickers bar, while few found it reminiscent of unbaked cookied dough. The company has been making cakes since 1917.
Recommended with reservation
• Gethsemani Abbey in Trappist, Ky.
Two-and-a-half pound Kentucky Bourbon Fruitcake can be ordered through http://www.gethsemanifarms.org for $27. This fruitcake won praise from the handful of tasters who said they enjoy a "boozy," highly spiced fruitcake (the cake contains burgundy wine, as well as Kentucky Bourbon). It contained less fruit than most of the other cakes sampled and some tasters felt this made it too dry.
• Collins Street Bakery in Corsicana, Texas
One-and-seven-eighths pound Deluxe Fruitcake can be ordered through http://www.collinsstreetbakery.com for $19.95. It was one of two fruitcakes in the sample that did not include liquor in its ingredients. By far the nuttiest, with pecans making up more than 27 percent of its weight. It was uniformly criticized for its large quantity of red and green glacéed cherries. Company has been baking fruitcake since 1896.
Not recommended
• Harry and David in Medford, Ore.
One-pound fruitcake can be ordered through http://www.harryanddavid.com for $17.95. It was most disliked due to its overabundance of glacéed fruit. Most found the texture to be too dry and crumbly. This cake did not include liquor as an ingredient.
Source: Cook's Illustrated Magazine, December 2004
Fruitcakes around the world
• United Kingdom’s Christmas cake, a dark, fruited cake, iced with marzipan. The traditional wedding cake is also a fruitcake with marzipan icing. 
• Australia’s boiled Christmas cake, a traditional fruitcake similar to the United Kingdom’s Christmas cake, made with sherry. 
• Poland’s keks, made with dried fruits (including dates, prunes and papaya) and Polish vodka, served for dessert. 
• Netherlands Antilles’ bolo pretu, a dense, moist fruitcake, iced with marzipan, which is a traditional wedding cake. Bolo Pretu is also a delicacy in Aruba. 
• Germany’s stollen, a sweet yeast bread packed with dried fruit and a ribbon of marzipan in the center, which is served during Christmas time. 
• Italy’s panettone, a light, airy yeast bread, studded with dried fruit and served during Christmas time. 
• Mexico’s fruitcake, flavored with crushed pineapple and pecans. It is often made without any alcohol. 
• Austria’s Punschtorte, made with rum, cake layers, fruit punch syrup, fresh fruit, marzipan and pink sugar icing. 
• Jamaica’s black cake, made with rum-soaked dried fruits and rum and served during Christmas time. This is also a traditional wedding cake. Contact Lodi Living Editor Tricia Tomiyoshi at triciat@lodinews.com.
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