Fruitcake: a holiday tradition
Dave Rafferty
Pictured are some of the ingredients for Tom Lucas’ fruitcake (except for the 7Up). Lucas said of the flavor, “It’s not overly sweet. It’s a thick, dense cake.’’
Dave Rafferty
Tom Lucas of Uniontown is the maker of fine fruitcakes. He said,
“Either you love fruitcake or hate it. There’s no inbetween.’’
Dave Rafferty
Dave Rafferty
One of the fruitcakes made by Tom Lucas as part of a family
Christmas tradition. Fruitcake can trace its origins to the
Egyptians and was common in Roman times. In the early 18th century,
fruitcake became synonymous with decadence. Today, it is a holiday
staple for many.
Dave Rafferty
Tom Lucas shows off his family tradition of a homemade fruitcake
for Christmas. The Lucas family make it a part of their Christmas
Day breakfast.
Dave Rafferty
Tom Lucas adds mixed fruit to his fruitcake, along with candied cherries and pineapple. The fruitcake also includes walnuts and mincemeat to make a very rich cake.
Dave Rafferty
Tom Lucas pulls his freshly baked fruitcake from the oven. The wonderful aroma made the house smell like Christmas.
Dave Rafferty
The family cookbook of the Tom Lucas family, maker of fine
fruitcakes. Lucas, who has been baking fruitcakes since 1984, uses a recipe called Ever-So-Easy Fruitcake.
To say that Tom Lucas’ house smelled wonderful is an understatement.
The rich aroma of the fruitcake that Lucas just removed from the oven permeated his North Union Township home and the rich, dense cake that sat on a clear, glass platter looked splendid on a red tablecloth next to a bright red poinsettia. It’s just waiting for Christmas morning, when the Lucas family will sit down to enjoy this holiday tradition.
“I grew up on fruitcake and always liked it,” said Lucas. “I just like the flavor. It’s not overly sweet. It’s a thick, dense cake.”
Lucas, who works at the water plant at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Farmington, has been making a fruitcake every Christmas since 1984, when he married his wife, Joni, who works at the Hallmark store at Uniontown Mall. The couple has a son, Sam, 12, who is in seventh grade at Laurel Highlands Middle School.
Lucas has always enjoyed cooking and baking since he was a little boy.
“My mother used to make fruitcake. Her recipe is different. She can’t find it now but I remember that she made hers the day after Thanksgiving and it had to sit for 30 days to moisten,” Lucas said.
Lucas uses a recipe called Ever-So-Easy Fruitcake that he obtained from his wife, who was given it by a former sister-in-law. It’s stored in a handwritten recipe book that shows signs of being well used
“When we got married, she came with the cookbook,” Lucas said with a smile.
He propped the book on a stand on the kitchen counter as he worked the Monday before Christmas to make his fruitcake.
“I try to wait as long as I can. I usually make it the day before Christmas Eve,” said Lucas, who explained that the longer the fruitcake sits out, the more tempted he is to taste it.
For the Lucas family, fruitcake is a Christmas morning tradition. The fruitcake then will be consumed throughout the next week and probably disappear by New Year’s Day.
The origin of the fruitcake can be traced back to the Egyptians and became common during Roman times, according to “A History of Fruitcake” on The Learning Channel’s website. Candied fruits were added during Colonial times.
“By the early 18th century, fruitcake became synonymous with decadence and was outlawed in Europe, where it was proclaimed sinfully rich,” the website noted. “The law was eventually repealed since fruitcake had become an important part of the tea hour, particularly in England.”
Over the years, the fruitcake came to be known as a holiday staple for many and also the butt of jokes. The late Johnny Carson, former host of “The Tonight Show,” once joked, “There is only one fruitcake in the entire world, and people keep sending it to each other.”
Add to the insults an annual fruitcake-tossing event, which has been held every January in Manitou Springs, Colo., since 1994, with judging on catching fruitcakes, accuracy with targets, most creative launch and a people’s choice award.
But author Truman Capote also made fruitcake a focal point of his poignant holiday story, “A Christmas Memory,” which has gone on to become a classic. It is the tale of a young boy named Buddy and his older cousin named Sook, who are part of a poor family living in Alabama in the 1930s. They save their money every year to make fruitcakes as presents for their friends.
Lucas said of the debate, “Either you love fruitcake or you hate it. There’s no in between.”
On Monday morning, Lucas took a white plastic bowl and placed it on his kitchen counter in front of the recipe book. He mixed together mincemeat, sweet condensed milk, eggs and dried fruit that included cranberries, cherries, pineapples and raisins with walnuts, flour and baking soda.
He poured the mixture into a Bundt pan that had been buttered and floured and set it in a 300-degree oven to bake for about an hour and 45 minutes.
The Lucas home, already decorated with a Christmas tree, garlands, wall hangings and a Christmas village, took on even more Christmas flair with the aroma of the fruitcake. Lucas waited for it to cool and then turned over the Bundt pan to land the cake on the plate.
“It’s a part of our Christmas,” said Lucas. “If I couldn’t make it, it wouldn’t be the end of Christmas, but it’s a tradition we enjoy.”
See related video online at www.heraldstandard.com.