While the origins of Christmas cake date back to the 16th and 17th century, it was in the 19th century that the cake really began to be associated with the Christmas season itself.
Mixed with dried fruit and nuts, packaged fruit cakes can still be found in Sudbury during the holiday season thanks to Shriners International and the Sudbury Shrine Club.
The club sells the cakes to meet its philanthropic mission each year by allowing them to support the work of the Shriner’s Hospital in Montreal as well as the club’s operating expenses.
This holiday season, more than 3,000 of the dense, colourful and flavourful fruitcakes will be sold in the Sudbury and Manitoulin regions.
Dick Stewart, a Shriner and former educator with 30 years of experience teaching at schools in the city, knows the value of the Christmas cake.
“The sale of these cakes allows us to help the Shriners Hospital, which specializes in orthopaedics, spines, cleft palates and burns,” Stewart said.
Stewart, a 10-year Master Mason, is leading the fruitcake charge this holiday season.
While the cakes are no longer made locally, Stewart explains its history in the city.
“In 1963 when Christmas cakes were first sold by the Shriners, Ceccuti’s Bakery held the responsibility for making them. This transferred to Weston’s and then eventually we had to find an out-of-town supplier,” he said.
Since then, the cakes have been made by McFadgen’s Bakery in Glace Bay, N.S.
“It took a few years to recreate and tweak the recipe after getting feedback from longtime customers,” Stewart said.
He said it is now a light dried fruitcake with pecans just like a grandma would make it. There are 50 outlets helping to sell the cakes in the city and at four locations on or near Manitoulin Island: Gore Bay, Mindemoya, Little Current and Espanola.
Stewart said he sells most of his personal allotment of cakes over email because he has built a fanbase of loyal customers.
“Lots of companies buy the cakes in bulk and use it for staff, client or customer appreciation. Others make it a yearly tradition of buying a case or two and donate it to the soup kitchen or food bank.”
In recent years, the Shriners have expanded Christmas sales to include other items such as shortbread fingers from Scotland, shortbread chocolate chip cookies and maple syrup bottles from the East Coast.
“Not all younger people seem to have the palate for fruitcake nowadays so we had to re-envision our reach,” he said.
That being said, Stewart said it is still nice to hear from older customers happy to see Christmas cake still on the market each holiday season.
“They tell me that candied fruit is so expensive that making the cake at home is next to impossible on a $19 budget,” Stewart said. “They also share how they ferment it with rum and other spirits under a tea towel.”
The Christmas cake is sold all over the city including selected Home Hardware stores and Canadian Tire stores as well as the Chris’ Independent on Lorne Street.
Anastasia Rioux is a writer in Greater Sudbury. Let’s Eat! is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.