That was the greeting that I received from these three children at the Lakeland Downtown Farmers Curb Market in Florida. I asked mom if I could snap photo. I would of bought everything they were selling with such a fantastic greeting. I was only passing through.
It is the dead of winter but we have had a little break in the rain. I have ever needed an excuse to fire up the bbq; so I did. N.Y. strip on the left and huge filet on the right was perfect for our little nice weather patch.
Welcome to Paul’s Fruitcake Corner. Here at the corner we try fruitcakes so you do not have to. On our final day of my 2025 fruitcake journey we have a cake from Tea’s Unique. This is a company based in Flowery Branch, Georgia that sells tea’s sourced from Korea. They also sell fruitcake. Today we are trying the “Southern Gourmet Fruit Cake Aged with Cinnamon Spiced Kentucky Bourbon”. This was a 2 pound cake that suggested refrigeration before slicing. This cake was packed with walnuts, plump golden and purple raisins, cherries, pineapple, orange peel, papaya, and crunchy pecans. There is a bourbon presence but it is very nuanced and not particularly spicy. This cake was very moist and thoroughly enjoyed. The ingredient list was very very long and avoided to deter from this enjoyement.
Thanks for coming along on my fun and tasty fruitcake journey. It was fun and sometimes challenging to source these commercially sold cakes. I enjoyed the majority but they will never replace the joy of making and enjoying a homemade fruitcake. See you next year!
Welcome to Paul’s Fruitcake Corner. Here at the corner we try fruitcake so you do not have to. We are going north of the border to Alberta, Canada to try Grandma’s Traditional Fruitcake. This cake is from a 4 generation recipe and a small company run for 35 years by Cynthia Baumgardt. She sells these cakes at craft shows and by mail order. We are trying the dark fruitcake which has a dark rum infusion. It is a pleasant mix of spices, cherries, raisins, molasses, dark brown sugar and orange and lemon peel. The unwrapping of the festive blue foil wrapping reveals a shiny dark loaf that smells of Christmas spices. The flavors are all there. It is pleasant with the fruits (no nuts), spices and ends with a warmth and flavor from the rum. To be totally honest here, the cake is a tad dry. Except for the dryness this cake was enjoyable.
Logistics Note.
I talked to Ms. Baumgardt on the phone and asked her if she would ship her cake to the states. She was very gracious and explained she would but she has had past problem with shipping across the border. The cake was held at customs for almost three weeks and total shipping time was just shy of a month. I was warned and was thankful to try her cake.
