You refer to your zany, eccentric neighbor down the street as a "fruitcake" because he is dense, colorful, a little nutty, and sometimes full of bourbon, right? Of course! Just like the holiday-time cake by the same name! But why refer to the apparent sanity-challenged as a sugary, fruit filled dessert? Well, just like you'd need to have a few screws loose to mow your lawn in your underwear (like your neighbor), you'd have to be CRAZY to eat a baked good that can double as a brick and is chalked full of glossy, unidentifiable objects in a petrified state. Ok, so not everyone hates fruitcake. With the huge amount of fruitcake bakeries claim to sell each year, someone, somewhere must actually eat and enjoy this cake instead of only using it to hold doors ajar. But from where did this black sheep of desserts originate? And, more importantly, where did the idea that nothing says "Season's Greetings" like a mail order fruitcake come from?

Some date the fruitcake back to Ancient Egyptian times where it was thought to have been a vital part of the food supply left for the mummified in the afterlife, in addition to signifying respect and wealth. The oldest fruitcake recipe dates back to Ancient Roman times, when pomegranate seed, pine nuts, and raisins where mixed with barley mash to make a kind of cake. When dried fruits from the Mediterranean began to infiltrate Great Britain in the 1400's, the fruitcake took on a new life. By the 1700's, fruitcake traditions were well established in Europe. At the end of the nut harvest, fruitcake was cooked (with nuts) and saved, only to be eaten nearly a year later to celebrate the start of a Fall season and hopefully usher in another bountiful harvest. For a time in the 18th century, fruitcake (plum cake) was outlawed in Continental Europe because it was considered "sinfully rich". In England there is a tradition that dates back to this same time period where unmarried guests attending a wedding place a slice of dark fruitcake under their pillow at night to dream of who they will one day marry.

The association of fruitcake with Christmas appears to have come from England where plum porridge evolved into a cake over time. Traditionally eaten on Christmas Eve, the porridge became Christmas pudding when dried fruit and spices where added and later transformed into a cake by the 16th century when the oatmeal was replaced with ingredients like flour and eggs. In the late 17th century it was common in England for those who could afford the decadent fruitcake to give out slices to impoverished Christmas carolers singing in the streets. The tradition of fruitcake at Christmas was likely brought over to the United States from European settlers, and then given an American twist. In 1913, the mail order fruitcake was born in the United States. The now much ridiculed dessert was highly popular for the first half of the 20th century in America but has declined in popularity since then.

And just for the record, the slang usage of "fruitcake" is derived from the phrase "nutty as a fruitcake", which was first recorded in 1935. The terminology most likely refers to the popular American nut laden cakes produced by leading fruitcake makers, Collin Street Bakery and Claxton Bakery. Both bakeries hail from Southern states where nuts were in surplus and low priced at the time.